My Treasure
by MintMainia
Summary: Raphael was in the middle of destroying a Kraanglab when one of the droids managed to get their hands on the vicious turtle's DNA, and with it the beginging of a new lifefrom began. However, as the lab was getting destroyed, the aging process was cut short. With the Kraang out of the picture, Raphael has taken it upon himself to raise this lifeform as if it would've been his child.
1. Chapter 1

**Tmnt 2012**

 **Well… that happened**

Raphael lost his temper – _again_. The training session is always smooth like silk, until Leonardo and Raphael feel the need to test each other to the limit. Master Splinter would've expected more from his two older sons, if he hadn't been so used to this scenario by now. And yet, it still surprises him that his sons keep letting this happen despite them both knowing what the outcome of this action is. As Leonardo jokingly embarrasses Raphael, he will end up beaten to the floor by his hotheaded brother, and Raphael, because of his lack of self control, will be sent out form the dojo until he learns how to keep himself calm in battle. And thus, here we are. No one is happy about this.

"You know what? _Forget this!_ I'm gonna go and get some real training!" Raphael says as he marches out from the dojo, leaving his brother with blue bandanna on the floor.

Master Splinter watches as his son leaves their home to go to the surface and let the temper out. A voice inside him tells him to run after him and make sure that he doesn't end up getting in trouble, but then another voice tells him to leave it be, that it will only get worse if he doesn't allow his son to evolve on his own. With a heavy sigh, Splinter closes his eyes for a second before he stands up and walks up to his other son, who's still on the floor while the other two has come to make sure he's okay from their brother's fury. His mind still focuses on Raphael and how he constantly decides that the best way for him to learn is the hard way. He closes his eyes and sighs out loud in front of his sons; he then starts to check Leonardo for any kind of severe injury that might have been caused. To his big relief nothing seems to be broken, cracked or knocked loose. Donatello helps him tend to the damages that Raphael did cause his brother, and occasionally Splinter sends Michelangelo to go and get some supplies that they require to treat some wounds. When Leonardo is patched up and his body has began to heal in the right way, master Splinter allows Donatello to help his oldest brother to his lab to make a quick checkup before he feels comfortable letting him be. When the two brothers make it into the lab, Michelangelo find himself standing next to his sensei.

"Are you alright, master Splinter?" He asks with a calm voice, which would be considered a step in the right direction for this over stimulated turtle, but in this scenario it's actually rather frightening that he is calm – he only is when he is deeply concerned after all.

The knowledge of that alone is enough to make Splinter sigh and pull his beard. He tries his best to think of something to say to his son to comfort him in some way, but knowing his son, it won't matter what he tries to say – he will still not believe it.

"Yes my son." Splinter says. "I am fine. A little worried, but fine."

"I understand sensei." Michelangelo says. "I'm a little worried to. Do you think I should go after him?"

"No, I don't. For whatever reason Raphael has decided to learn his lesson the hard way, we should not interfere with his wish. After all, we all know what way is the best for us to learn."

"If you say so."

Mikey looks at his father and sensei, knowing that he knows what's best for them all… but still, he can't be certain where this is going to lead them. It's almost funny how Raphael's anger outbursts always manage to get them all tangled into some sort of mess that has something to do with either the Kraang or the Foot. Knowing all that has happened before, all he's able to do right now is waiting for his hotheaded brother to return and help his brothers clean up the mess that he made. All he knows is that whatever the mess will turn out to be, nobody will be happy with it.

In the meantime Raphael has managed to reach the rooftops. He's still so angry that he keeps growling at everything at the same time despite the fact that nothing has happened or done anything to him whatsoever yet. That's going to change though. Why? Because I want it to, that's why. It wouldn't be a story worth sharing if nothing happened in it, now would it?

… _anyway_ … After breaking some minor things on some of the roofs he jumps to, he eventually allows the world around him to have a small break from his rage. He sits down by a water tower and gives out a loud and big sigh. Why does it always have to be like this? It's the same kind of dilemma every single time! He tries his best to focus and maintain control over himself, then his stupid brothers – Leo in particular – has to act all childish and tease him with all of these stares, like they're constantly watching him to see how far he has left before he explodes. Then he always makes one of those really unfair moves that send him flying across the dojo and as he lies on the ground Splinter always looks down at him all disappointed and everything while he gives Leo all the glory of what a good son he is! He just can't take it! _Why does it always have to be this way?!_ It's just not fair…!

He lets out another big sigh of frustration after going through the incident in his mind. As much as he hates to admit it, it does help with seeing things through other's perspective – however, it's always only after the incident has happened, so it only really works when you're having difficulties understanding what you have to apologize for. The real problem is that no matter how much he tries to apologize, his brothers never believes him, or they take the opportunity to make him rage again – like pretending not to hear what he's saying so that he eventually yells the apology at them and gets scolded for it. Yeah… that's exactly what it's like, and I'm not using any sarcasm.

He eventually manages to calm down a big and can see things through a more sane perspective than before. It really is true that anger clouds your mind and judgment and that is a very scary truth. But, with his mind cleared he decides that now would be a perfect time for a little training – like he said when he left, he's gonna get some real training on the street – no rules other than getting the bad guy no matter what. He barely makes it up on his feet again when he notice one of the Kraangs' white vans drive past the building he's standing on. The smile spreads across his face and he is already preparing himself for some sweet action.

The van drives legally for once. It's like they've finally manage to get the drive license the police asked for three decades ago. Cracking at his own joke, Raphael runs along the rooftops as he refuses to let the van out of his sight. When the action is so teasingly close he just can't help himself – the need for punching Kraangs in the head is too strong for him to resist. Not only that, but they're also always doing something that's going to end up being extremely bad for humanity, so he's actually getting a workout and saves the day, all in one – it's a win-win-situation – and he's not complaining about that any time soon.

The van drives out from the city and out to the docks where all the old buildings and factories are left to fall apart on their own. It would kind of make sense for them to use one of those buildings for some sort of secret experimentation of theirs that they want nobody to know about. Well, ain't that just too bad for them?

Raphael follows at a safe distance. Given the distance they've traveled, he now sure regrets not taking the shellbike with him on the journey. Sure, it would've been easier to detect, but man – that's one heck of a leg workout. Fortunately they've stopped and are now getting out of the van, and some droids without the human cover-up-masks are walking out from the building to meet with them. Hiding behind an old dumpster, Raphael tries his best to be sneaky about this. He really wants to pound their heads, but there's something about all this that makes him take the safe route for once, although we all know that can change. Once all the droids are done talking to each other they turn back towards the van and opens the doors at the back to take out whatever it was they were bringing here. Four out of six droids carry one big box each and starts walking back to the building and in through the front door, whilst the other two remains outside with weapons in hands. It just might be that they're patrolling the entrance incase some sneaky turtle followed them here. Well… they're gonna know that's not nearly enough to stop him.

With the temptation right in his face, Raphael quickly abandons the sneaky strategy and launches at the two guarding droids, and it's all over sooner than anyone could imagine – Raphael included. That has to mean that he just broke his old record! _SWEET!_

The door is open and there are no guards for as far as he can see. It sure seems like security wasn't prioritized at all. You can literally just walk in and be like: " _HEY! The freak you think you doin'?!_ " and then you just go completely berserk and destroys the entire place just like that – now that would be something, wouldn't it? _Heh… eh… back to the story._ Once he has double-checked the entrance he goes further into the building and soon spots another big door, just like the entrance door only it's inside the building. For whatever reason that is, it has to be something important behind that door. And since it's so big and literally the only door that leads into this room, there's no way for him to sneak his way in that way. That means…:

"Warning! One of the ones known as the turtles is here in this building to stop us from completing the experiments we are doing in this building!"

"Capture the one who is one of the one known as the turtles!"

"You guys talk way too much." Raphael says. "You know that, right?"

Yes. He busted the door open and started attacking everything on sight. Yes, you guessed it right. Very good. You really do know the character by now. Storyteller is very proud. Why do I sound like a robot? I don't know. Let's just progress.

Now… let's see… Raph takes a small moment to count the amount of droids he's busted and the amount of droids that are left for him to bust. Let's see here… 14 down and 8 to go. The odds are with him on this one it would seem. But wait just a second. Just what is that big machine they're working on? It kind of reminds him of the mind switching one that made him end up in one of the brain bugs, but it's still different given the enormous glass container that's in the middle and filled with some sort of green liquid-slime-thing that's not mutagen. And what are all those tubes for? It's disgusting!

He picks up one of the droids and throws it to the other side of the machine, believing that was enough to take it down. The droid however is pretty fine and carefully makes its way to the control panel of the machine as Raphael keeps doing what he's doing – distracting himself. Once there, the droid presses the different keys and then activates the machine. Now, all they need is a sample from the one known as one of the ones known as the turtles to start the experiments that the one known as the Shredder ordered them to do. It's unfortunate that only one of the ones knows as the turtles showed up, but it will work for now. They'll get more chances. Now, it's time to at least get what they're offered. The droid focuses the machine on the one known as one of the turtles and hits the big red button. There's no time for Raphael to react once the machine sees him as its target.

Thousands of tiny needles connected to the machine with tiny threads sized tubes are fired at him and hits him all over the body, sucking small amounts of blood and different samples out of his body and to the machine. The procedure is very painful, but not very long. Once the machine has the right amount of the different samples, the needles are pulled back out of sight and leaves Raphael on a pair of weak and shaky legs. He falls to his knees as the machine begins to power up. All he can do is raise his head and watch as the many different tubes are being filled with his blood and samples before they send them all to the big container where they being exposed to the green liquid-messy-slime that immediately begins to show some sort of reaction to the blood and samples. The silhouette of a humanlike creature appears in the container as the blood and samples are being mixed together, the silhouette of a human sized turtle.

"The one known as Kraang is ready to begin the creating process for the experiment known as the experiment the one known as the Shredder demanded."

"You're helping the Shredder?!" Raphael yells.

Despite the pain he quickly forces himself back on his feet and throws himself across the machine, reaching out for the droid that powered it up. He makes it there, he pounds the droid into bits and pieces, and then he turns around to fight the rest of the droids as well as he tries to figure out just how to stop this process. His sais flies all over the place as the droids try their best to stop him. He carelessly throws everything at them, desperate to end the experiment before it's too late – no matter what the experiment is, it has to be really bad if the Shredder ordered it to happen!

When most of the droids are down, he turns towards the machine with both of his sais in hand. There's nothing in the world of Kraang that he hasn't been able to destroy with brute force yet, so why would this machine be any different? Lashing his sais at all of the parts that seems to be very important, Raphael destroys the machine bit by bit, trying his best to end it all right here and now. The droids become panicked as he keeps lashing the machine into billions of pieces, and they all hurry to the control panels that's scattered around in the building. Noticing this, Raphael decides to leave the machine for the moment and go after the droids once more before they manage to undo what he's doing.

The sounds of dying droids are very satisfying when you're a hero turtle with a very bad temper to deal with. With a big smile on his lips, Raphael check the area before he makes his way back to the machine. Sais in hands, Raphael walks up to the machine to finish it all off. He raise his right hand and is just about to start destroying it again when –

" _WAAAIIIAAAAAAAUUU…_ "

What the heck…? Raphael looks up at the big container. It's full of cracks that have forced the liquid stuff to float out all over the floor and it's leaning up to one of the one pieces of the machine he has yet to tear apart. The container is empty by the look of it… but the angle he sees it from isn't really the best one. The sais are still in hand as he carefully makes his way up to the container to check out what that weird sound was. His eyes thoroughly search the container for anything that could have caused that… crying sound…?

So far so good, and he keeps closing in. Whatever it is or was, it's quiet right now. He tries poking the container with one of his sais, but nothing happens, so he then tries to lift some of the metal pieces from the container to get a better view into the container. Some of the pieces are stuck tight so he needs to remove them with great force, which causes the container to move a little, and that's when the sound echoes through the building once more. Jumping at the sudden sound, Raphael prepares himself to kill it as soon as he sees it – whatever it is. Given the fact that they literally used his DNA to try and create something his size and then the fact that he tore the machine apart during the creation of this… thing… things could be very messy and not so nice to look at.

He eventually grows tired of being so slow and careful – like an actual turtle is – and he violently grabs the broken container glass and pulls it off, clearing his way into whatever the thing is and goes for it. The only moment he has to actually look at the thing is when he raises his right hand to gather force to destroy the creature with… but he never manage to actually force the hand down. It is a very disgusting sight if he's to be honest, but not nearly what he had expected. Instead of a massive lump of messed up DNA that's ready to kill everything on sight… a very small human/turtle figure is laying in the remaining liquid and blood mix, looking very weak and miss formed. For a moment it opens its eyes and looks at him – big glowing green eyes – with so much life in them, and yet also so very tired. A moment of silence passes as the two creatures look at each other without doing anything.

"NOPE!" He says and immediately marches out from the building.

He's managed to mess up big times before because of his temper, but there's no way he's gonna let his family and team know that he literally just created a baby by busting some secret Kraang lab! Just think of what they will say… _he can't even imagine what they would say!_ It's all for the best that they never know! No one must know! The best way for no one to know is to pretend nothing happened and make sure no one finds out that there's a baby turtle in the hands of the Kraang because of him!

Raphael is running as fast as he can away from the building and back to the city… but after some time, he slowly starts to slow down. There's no one around that building. No one knows about what they were doing part from the Kraang. He literally left a… a… a _baby_ in the hands of the Kraang… in the hands of the Shredder!

He stands still, thinking about what his options are right now, falling to his knees as he does. But then, he turns around and goes back to get the little blob out from the container. Checking a couple of times that there's no one around to see this; he picks up the blob from the disgusting liquid in the container. The blob is small enough for him to carry with just one hand, so he decides to carry it with just one hand. After all, it's a blob, not a baby. Or, at least, that's what he's trying to tell himself.

Some would think that it would be hard to sneak around in New York City as a mutant turtle with a baby – _I mean blob_ – in one hand, but not really. Then again, he is a ninja, so that might be the reason. Making his way into one of the alleys that leads home, he checks around before opening the manhole and climbing down the ladder with one hand only. Okay, it's not as easy to close the manhole as it was to open it with one hand only. That he must admit. But it's still not nearly hard enough to be compared to try and make a ba- _blob_ stop crying due to the smell. This time both hands are required for him to look at the blob and try to determine just how to make it stop smelling everything down here, but after a while, the blob gets used to the smells and eventually becomes immune to it. Killing a sigh, Raphael proceeds. He's now holding the blob with both hands just to feel a little bit more in control over its… episodes.

As he closes in to the lair, he suddenly begins feeling a lot more nervous than he already was. What if they see him with this thing? What will they say? What will happen? Just what will they do to it? Why is he even freaking out over it like this? He looks down at the blob and sees how it looks back up at him. The big green eyes are very bizarre to look at. It just makes it all so much more obvious that it is part _him_. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Raphael carefully peeks around the corner into the "living room" to see just what his brothers are up to, where they are and how to avoid them. Figuring out how to get from there and to his bedroom without being seen or heard, the little blob finally gets the chance to taste the red bandanna around the big creatures head as the two ends of it falls over the shoulder and right into its hands. Feeling the soft tugging on his bandanna, Raphael looks down at the blob and sees how it's sucking on his bandanna. It seems happy – and more importantly: too busy to make a noise.

"Whatever makes you happy." He whispers to it, and thus begins his journey to his room.

Mikey is watching TV in the living room, should be pretty easy to avoid when he's this distracted. Donnie is in his lab as always, keeping himself both too busy and distracted to bother checking on their hotheaded brother. Leo is in the dojo, still recovering and still training with master Splinter. Despite being busy with other things, Leo will always be the more difficult one to avoid, and we haven't even started on mentioning master Splinter. It wouldn't be surprising if he already knew about the blob and about everything that happened in that building by now. And yet, just like that, Raphael has made it to his room. Locking the door behind him to prevent any unwelcome guests, Raph decides to place the blob on his bed for the moment. Tired of always carrying it, it's the best place for it to be anyways.

He watches the blob for a moment, thinking about just how this day could've been _sooooo_ much more different, or rather; so much more like any other days, if he hadn't ended up getting involved with the Kraang, if he hadn't lost his temper like that. If only he had tried to do the exercise that master Splinter showed him to keep his temper in control. If only… if only he wasn't such a hothead to begin with! He sighs loudly, not caring if anyone can hear him or not. The door is locked so they can't get in anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Raph closes his eyes and focuses on the darkness it provides. Then, he opens his eyes and looks down at the blob that resting in his bed. A moment of silence passes, like before, where nothing happens except for him looking at it. And… given all that's happened today and just how much time that has passed between then and now, it might be a little too late to say this, but…

"Well… that happened."

* * *

 _Well, that is the first chapter of this brand new adventure of mine. Please don't kill me for the changes; I really do like it better this way. Instead of an m-preg story, we have a no-preg story to work with. Where could this possibly lead us I wonder? I'm also going to stick to the "tradition" of mine where I'm kind of like breaking the fourth wall with the readers or something like that. It's a fun thing to do, and I did it a lot in Parenthood, so I'm gonna keep doing it in this story._

 _\- Raphael being the only one who's able to talk like normal cannot be a good sign._

 _ **TMNT 2012: Apparently you end up getting a baby if you rage too much. Who would've thought?**_

 _Next chapter: When I have the time._


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm NOT shaking in my boots! You are!**

The blob… thing… ( _Actually, it's a:_ ) _lump,_ seems to be calm, maybe even sleeping. Raphael decides that this is an opportunity he needs to take in order to get out of his room and… gather some supplies, perhaps, without seeming suspicious about it. He carefully gets up from his bed after making sure that it's going to remain silent for a while and then heads towards the door and opens it slowly. _Geez, man!_ _Has it always squeaked so loudly?_ He kills a sigh and steps out of his room, hoping that nobody heard him so that he can move around freely. Actually, skip that – he hopes that everyone in the lair would for some reason decide to just get out of here and leave him alone so that he can really move around freely without worrying about someone detecting him or not. _Speaking of that…_

"Hey!" Mikey says as he looks up from the TV. "When did you come back?"

"Oh! Erm… just now?" Raph tries to smile to make it seem more believable, but then again it's true, more or less.

"Must've missed ya." Mikey says. "Where'd you go anyway?"

"Oh, you know, just out… to bust some Kraang."

For a moment Mikey is silent and looks a little concerned. "I was afraid of that." He then says and looks back at the TV. "Leo wants to talk to you. He's in the dojo with sensei."

" _Great…_ "

Changing the direction of his steps, Raphael prepares himself to get talked to in that one way that really ticks him off. This time however, he knows that he won't allow himself to get that angry – not after what just happened, and that it's currently sleeping in his bedroom. He walks in casually, like he always does and sees how Leo and Splinter are sitting on the floor talking. Once they notice him, they look up at him with their own specific looks on their face. Leo seems quite troubled and worried – possibly because he knows that his hotheaded brother went out to let out some steam, and that he most likely ended up in trouble because of it, whilst Splinter looks at him like he always does whenever he need some more meditation… or sleep.

"Raphael." Splinter says and invites him to sit.

"Sensei, Leo." Raph says and walks up to them to sit down.

Leo moves a few inches to leave some room for his brother to sit with them. Once seated, Raphael bows to Splinter and looks up at him, waiting for him to start talking about you-know-what in the way he finds appropriate for the moment. And so, Splinter starts talking about how the anger can be an ally, but also an enemy, a useful tool for battle, or a dangerous weapon to harm you with. And for once, Raphael listens. He listens to every single word that Splinter says and thinks about them. Never before has it been so obvious to him just how much more control he could've had over his life if he only had bothered to listen to those words before. There are many different events in his life that could've been easily avoided, but the one that really stands out right now is the thing that happened just earlier this day.

After a long lecture – a very long but also very important lecture – Splinter finishes and looks at his son, hoping that he, just this one time, understood what he was really saying to him. A few seconds pass and Raphael doesn't say anything – and soon the seconds has become a minute and counting. Splinter looks at his son and Leonardo at his brother. They both know that he went out to let out some steam after the training incident, like he always does when the training goes wrong like that, but never before has he been this quiet after getting lectured for his behavior. Never before has he actually listened, and the way his head is slightly lowered. Could it be…?

"Raphael?" Splinter asks. "Do you not have anything to say?"

"Hm?" Raphael asks back and looks up at his father. "Like what?"

Splinter looks at him for another small moment before he clears his throat and tries to think of the best way to ask this question to not poke the bear that they've somehow managed to avoid so far. Usually, they don't manage to avoid it no matter what they do, so this is truly worrying.

"Are you alright my son?"

"Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Forgive me, my son, but…" Splinter hesitates for a moment. "…but, you do not often decide to listen to everything I say to you after you leave the lair filled with rage."

"Well…" _Oh, shoot! They're onto him!_ "…I guess I just… got tired of that?" Feeling the stares of them both is burning in his mind as he knows what they're thinking right now, so he decides to try his best to save the situation as much as he can. "I'm not saying it's going to last forever. I just didn't really feel up to it right now."

"Erm…" Leonardo joins the conversation. "…it's not like it has something to do with whatever you did when you were out raging, does it?"

That's when Raphael grows suspiciously silent for another moment. He raises his left hand and begins to scratch himself behind the head, like he always, _always_ , do whenever he knows something really important but has absolutely no idea how to put it in words to make it sound better than it is.

"Raph?" Leo asks.

"Well… it might have something to do with-"

"Hey guys!" Donatello yells out from his lab. "You better take a look at this!"

 _Saved by the bell_ … or something like that? But then again, he's not really safe at all, and they're all about to find out why… this is going to be a very interesting day. Though, he's pretty sure what it is Donatello has discovered and wants to show them. Well, he's never been good with words anyway, so he might just as well let the one who knows just what to say and how to say it, say it. As they all get up from whatever they were doing and walks up to the smarty-pants hideout, Raphael prepares himself for the worst; that they're all going to find out what he's done? _Well, that was the thing he feared the most the moment before he remembered why he decided to leave his bedroom…_ A cold lightning strikes through his shell and spreads to all the parts of his body as he remembers that he has left the lump in his bed during all of this and assuming that it would stay asleep during it all.

"Hey, Raph? Are you okay?" Mikey asks when he sees the very bizarre and chocked expression on his brother's face.

"Erm… yeah!" Raph says, trying his best to play it cool, but only ends up discovering just how hard it actually is to keep a poker face on when you're lying about something at this scale. "I just… have to check something in my room."

He's gone before anyone has the time to ask anything, and he leaves Mikey at the door to Donnie's lab with a big question mark on his face. Taking a bunch of mental notes about all of this, Mikey glances over his shoulder before he heads into Donnie's lab to see what's up. In the meantime, Raphael has reached his bedroom and entered it most violently – and loudly. The lump on his bed managed to wake up from it and is now sniffling in his bed, ready to start a firework of tears if he doesn't do something really fast about it.

"No! _No, no, no, no, no, no!_ " He hurries up to his bed and looks at it whilst trying his best to understand how to make it stop before it starts. "Please! Please! Please! _Please_ don't do it! Don't start crying!"

The sounds it makes are still not loud enough for the others to hear, but it is getting louder and louder, so it will be over quite soon! _Oh, whatever shall he do to stop this madness?_ _Oh, I don't know… maybe remember what it seemed to enjoy doing right before he entered the lair in the first chapter of this story?_ Glancing over his shoulder to see if anyone is by the door, Raph's eyes see something that should've been obvious to him, but since he's new at being a "father", I'll forgive him. Mentally face palming, he unties his bandanna and holds it towards the lump that seems to be a little more interested in it than the idea of crying. As it begins to grab after it Raph lets out a big sigh of relief. Now it has to be safe to leave it be for a little longer while, right?

"Well, only one way to find out." He says as he slowly back away from the bed and leaves his bedroom.

When he notice how he still can't hear it make any sound he lets out yet another sigh of relief and hurries to get to Donnie's lab before anyone gets suspicious about his lack of presence. He manages to sneak in without anyone noticing – well, anyone but Mikey – right as Donnie is about to finish his grand speech about how he managed to get his hands over the stuff that he's about to show them, right after he's done talking some more about the methods he had to use in order to get this information for them.

"Are you done talking soon?" Raph asks with the same impatient tone everyone knows.

 _Suddenly remembering that she forgot to add this part of the story into the story, the author definitely didn't have to rewrite this small section to cover up her mistake. I mean…_ **He shouldn't have done that though** , cuz' now they're all looking at him and can see that he's not really, _complete_. When they all stare at him he decides to stare back at them while asking " _What?_ "

"What happened to your bandanna?" Mikey asks.

Suddenly remembering that he got rid of his bandanna to make sure the lump wouldn't start crying and all that stuff, Raphael now finds himself in front of his family, without his mask on. And to be honest, he kind of feels naked without it – but he can't get it back unless he wants them all to find out what he's keeping secret from them.

"Oh…" He says. "I got a… stain on it…? I don't want to wear it unless it's clean."

"You do realize that it's been _chewed_ on? _By Spike?_ " Donnie asks.

"Yeah, but it was still clean after! That's different!"

"Fine." Donnie decides to drop it and to just let them know what he's found. "Here it is."

They all go a little closer to see just what it is that he has found – and since Raphael is the only one who already knows about that secret Kraanglab, he's also the only one who is shaking in his boots right now. No one else knows anything about that location or about anything that happened there. But they might find out if he doesn't learn how to use a poker face soon.

"What is it Donnie?" Leo asks, still a little confused as to what they're looking at.

"It's a Kraanglab." He answers. "It went up on the radar not long ago which makes me think it will be worth checking out."

"How so?"

"Well, last time I checked, it's impossible to just straight up built a laboratory in one day so that cannot be what happened. What I think happened is this: this building has been "hidden" for a long time thanks to some sort of cloaking device, which allowed them to do whatever it was they were doing without anyone knowing about it – until something today went very wrong and ended up letting us know about the location."

No one is saying anything; they're all just slowly turning towards Raphael. It's far too much of a coincident that this would happen on the same day without being connected to one another. Knowing what they're all thinking, Raph doesn't snap back at them for accusing him for being the thing that happened at that location. He merely just sighs and raises his hands to let them all know that he surrenders.

"Yes." He says. "It was me."

More silence and more staring, and this time it's actually starting to tick him off a little.

" _What?!_ " He snaps.

"Nothing." Leo sighs and turns towards Donnie. "Any idea what they were up to in there?"

"I can't determine that from here. We have to go over there to see for ourselves."

"Well then." Leo says and turns back towards Raph. "Lead the way."

" _Please._ "

Well, now that the cat is out of the bag – is that what they say? – the four brothers head out to see what sort of thing the Kraang were up to before Raph got his hands over them and did what he usually does whenever he gets his hands over some Kraangdroids.

The road is longer than it looked like on the map. Hopefully they won't be expecting any company once they arrive, but then again, it's the Kraang. It should be easy enough to deal with. They finally arrive after a 30 minute drive which raises the question of: how the shell did their brother even manage to get here? Leo sighs as the question sticks itself onto his brain and refuses to leave him alone. He can't bother to deal with small details like that right now – they need to focus on the main task of their mission – discover what it was the Kraang were up to and then make sure that they will never manage to pull it off ever again.

Parking the Shellraises, Leo is the first one to get out of the vehicle to make sure that the coast is clear. After he gives the signal, the rest of them gets out and heads towards the building in sneaking ninja mode. Well, all but Raph. He's been here before, he knows that there's nothing to hide from. It's when you enter the building that you need to be a little more on the lookout. But since he doesn't want to make anyone irritated, he decides to enter the sneaky mode after he opens the door. So, he just casually walks up towards the big door like he did the first time, ignoring his brother's hushing and warnings, and _voila_ , the door is open in a second. Crouching as the doors opens up for them, Raphael enters the building despite all the things he imagines Leo is saying but he can't hear. From what he can hear they're all behind him right now, so they're all in this mess from now on. They keep walking up to the great door in front of them that is still messed up after Raphael busted it open like a beast. For a moment he can't help but smile when he thinks about it, but he forces himself to stop when he sees Leo's stare. They carefully enter the room where the machine is – the one that made that thing that's sleeping in his bed and snuggling with his bandanna right now.

"Wow." Mikey says as they enter the room and sees the mess. "That had to be quite the stain you manage to get on your bandanna dude. Just look at this!" He walks around and checks every messed up part that he can find. "It's even messier than _my room!_ "

"Now that you mention it…" Raph says as he also decides to take a walk around the place to see if there's something he missed last time he was here.

"Alright." Leo says. "Donnie, you go over to those panels over there and see what you can find. Mikey, you check this place out and see if you can find anything that isn't broken and that seems to be important."

"On it!"

"And Raph." Leo pauses to have a look at his brother. "Maybe you would like to tell us just what it is that we are looking for? Maybe even what the Kraang were up to when you decided to do… _this?_ "

"I don't know what they were up to." He says. "I only know what I saw and heard."

"And that is?"

"Well, for starters, they were checking this huge machine for something… maybe parts were missing or not working as they should've? And when I started to mess it all up, they started yelling to each other like they always do, you know like: " _the one of the ones known as the turtles are in this building where we are_ ", and after that they started talking about how to fix their experiment that they were doing for Shredder."

"They're working for the Shredder?!" Leo bursts.

" _The Shredder is here?!_ " Mikey screams.

"What?!" Donnie says and looks up from where he's hiding.

Raph sighs loudly. Like, really loudly. He then takes a deep breath and yells at his two idiotic brothers that the Shredder is not in the building with them – for now, that is. It's hard to say that he's not on his way when he really might be, given the fact that the place where his experiments where being… experimented (?) just got busted, and the fact that he might want to know about it all. But no, he's not here right now at least.

"Mikey and Donnie, no, the Shredder is not here." Raph says while facing his brothers, and then he turns towards Leo. "Leo, yes, the Kraang were working for the Shredder in this building. Why else do you think I messed this place up so badly? Now, I may not know what they were working on for the Shredder, but as soon as I understood that they were working for him at all, I decided to make sure that he wouldn't get what he wanted out of this. Now, are you happy?"

Leo looks at his brother. It's kind of hard to focus on anything he says now that he's not wearing the bandanna. He kind of looks funny – but don't you dare tell him that. He will not let you get away with it. So, Leo is trying his best to play it cool, trying his best to keep the poker face on after seeing his brother being himself when it comes to his temper and him explaining something – without his bandanna on.

"You're trying not to laugh, aren't you?"

And just as he asked that, Leo snorted. I guess he couldn't take it the way Raph ever so irritated asked that question. Growling at his brother's childish behavior, he watches as Leo turns around and runs away as he immediately starts chasing him.

" _Well let's just see how good you look without your bandanna on!_ "

They spend the next hour searching the place, finding stuff they didn't think of would be connected to this place. Mikey found some strange samples from different kinds of creatures from around the world. Donnie found out what the experiment was about and what was supposed to be in the container machine if Raph hadn't obliterated it. And Raph found out just what Leo looks like without his bandanna. Now everyone is happy about this – except Leo, perhaps. Well, he's happy enough that they found out anything at all from the mess Raph caused to this place. He had higher hopes when they left the lair, but when they arrived and saw the damage their brother had caused, his hopes pretty much surrendered.

"Alright, I don't think we're gonna find anything more by searching this place." Leo says. "Why don't we go back to the lair and analyze what we've found so far? Besides, the longer we stay the greater the risk that we'll end up meeting the Shredder's minions."

Agreed, they all get what they've found and heads back to the Shellraiser and then drive back to the lair. The angst starts to build up in Raph the closer they get to home. It's still there, isn't it? It's still a thing. It's still real. Killing a sigh, Raph does his best to act like normal when they arrive at home. Mikey watch as he heads directly towards his room, how he extremely carefully opens the door and how he extremely carefully closes it after him. How he actually locks it to make sure no one else is able to get in. With a frown on his face he decides to play it cool as well. He follow Leo and Donnie into Donnie's lab to place the stuff and samples that he found at the Kraanglab, then he heads straight out from the lab and up to his own room. He eyes Raph's door as he walks passed it and tries to listen without letting anyone know that he is. He doesn't hear anything out of the ordinary, but that doesn't confirm anything. The frown grows deeper and he walks into his own room to do some meditating over all this.

Back in his room, Raph feels how a heavy weight is lifting from his shoulders as the little lump is asleep again, still holding onto his bandanna. A smile manages to escape his awareness and is slowly beginning to grow on his face, but after a few minutes he becomes aware of it and forces himself to stop. He still doesn't know what to do with this thing, and he doesn't want to get attached to it if it would turn out that he needs to get rid of it. That's why he should just focus in the things that matter, right here and now, before he can allow himself to actually care about its wellbeing or anything like that. Now, what is he supposed to do?

He checks the time on the little clock that he found a few years ago and decided to keep, and soon he understands why he's feeling so tired. With a big yawn on its way, he knows what he should've been thinking about this whole time: where to keep it so that he can sleep in his own bed like normal, without having to worry about it waking up crying in the middle of the night like an actual baby does. What if it wakes up in the middle of the night and cries like an actual baby does? _What if it wakes up in the middle of the night and cries like an actual baby does? What if it wakes up everyone?_

 _Breathe Raphael, breathe!_ There has to be something he can do to prevent that from happening, right? But what? And why did he have to wait till this very moment to realize how much he needed to know this? Why now when he's so tired? Well, not that tired maybe, but tired enough to make everything go wrong no matter how hard you try to make it work out for you. He sighs. But then it hits him. Didn't he use to have an old blanket that he always kept no matter what? Where on earth did he put it? Trying his best not to make any sound whilst he searches the place, he ends up finding nothing. Sighing some more, he stands up and looks at the lump once more. It's sleeping like it didn't have any worries in the world. _Man, I wish I could sleep right now, but no, I have to go to work soon. Oh well._ One last sigh and Raphael is down for the counting. He carefully crawls into his bed and places his head on his pillow, making sure it doesn't wake up from the movement, then he closes his eyes and tries to fall asleep.

* * *

So much conversation to make up and write down, my brain hurts. But hey! I managed to write a chapter much faster than I thought! I can't tell when the next one will be, cuz' I'm also working on a book, and I need to finish a chapter there first before I can allow myself to start the next one here. _I'm so excited though!_ I managed to keep Raelle a secret from the Hamato family for much longer that I thought I could!

\- I'm moving in three months. I'm happy right now. I'm gonna write some more.

 **TMNT 2012:** **I'm perfectly capable of making sane decisions! Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna raise this lump of turtle-goo as my own child in the sewers without telling my family about it.**

 **Next chapter:** When I have the time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Jigsaws and puzzles – what picture does it show you?**

The centrifuge hums an old lullaby and is currently the only thing that is keeping Donatello from falling asleep. They're all used to be up all night for when they're going on patrols, but sometimes the night really is meant to be slept away. This is one of those nights, and yet he can't allow himself even some little rest. Not even a small nap. He's been running the same test, pretty much, for the last couple of times, and he still doesn't fully understand why the Kraang were doing whatever it was that they were doing. Sure, they did some sort of experiment for the Shredder, but that's not enough for him. He needs to know just what it was that they were using that machine for and what the Shredder would gain from it. While he's waiting for the centrifuge to finish its job, Leo decides to go in and pay his brother a small visit before he calls it a day.

"How's it going Donnie?" He asks, watching his brother stand up straight after leaning on the desk and stretch some muscles before he answers.

"Well… I'm getting somewhere." He says. "I just don't know where yet."

"Wanna share some thoughts and ideas?"

"Sure, why not?"

They take one chair each and sit in front of each other. Donnie decides to sit with the back of the chair to his chest so that he has something he can lean on, while Leo sits properly in his. With his arms around the backrest Donnie holds it close to his face as he leans forward and tries to think thoughts that actually makes sense. It takes some time before he actually says something to his brother, but Leo doesn't mind. Donnie always works thrice as hard as everyone else when t comes to figure something out – that's why he's in charge of the lab. The least Leo can do is give his brother some time to sort his thoughts out.

"Alright." Donnie says after some time. "Here's what I've got so far: The Kraang has been working on some experiments for the Shredder. The said experiment is still unknown and therefore also the reason why the Shredder ordered them to begin it. We have however found traces as to what the experiment contained; such as the samples they took from Raphael and some weird observations notes and preparations notes for the experiment I found in the database. So, in other words: I have a puzzle to solve, but I don't have all the pieces to make out the picture. Not even half of them."

"What sort of picture can you see with the pieces you have so far?" Leo asks.

Donnie takes a deep breath and thinks for a long moment. He tries to make out the picture in his head, and then he tries to make out another picture, but that one doesn't make any more sense than the last one, so he returns to the first one he got. After a while he raises his head and looks up at his brother who's still waiting for him to answer.

"Not a pretty one." He says. "From what I can tell… the Shredder might've asked them to do mutant turtle copies of us… maybe to try and build up his army more, or to just destroy us with our very own techniques."

Leo listens to his brother as he talks about the idea of what the plan behind the experiments might've been. It sure isn't a pretty picture he has build up with the pieces he got. And horrifyingly enough, it makes very much sense given who they're dealing with here. And given who that person is, they can be certain that he won't take a "no" for an answer – which means that when he finds out that the first attempt failed, he's going to try again – harder than the first time.

"That's not a pretty picture." Leo says.

"I know." Donnie answers. "But it's what we've got for the moment. I will be able to tell more after all my tests are done and if we manage to get more information from the database."

"We'll do our best. But we still don't know when the Shredder is going to start again someplace else. Any idea how long it would take to start from the scratch on a project like this?"

"Depends on the location, the costs and how many people that works on it... but if I had to make a guess, I would say two weeks."

"How much time do you need to find out what this is all about?"

"Five days top."

"That's all I wanted to hear." Leo says and gets up from his chair. "But please try and get some sleep before you crash. We need your head right now."

He walks up to Donnie and gives him a pat on his shoulder before he turns around and puts the chair back where he found it. Donnie watches him as he leaves the lab and leaves him to watch the centrifuge. It is nice to have company in the lab sometimes – not all the times, but sometimes – it helps to keep you focused on what you're really doing in there for some reason. Still, he doesn't blame Leo for leaving him alone. For all he knows, Mikey is still awake, and given what time it is, he must be over exhausted, and that is never good. That is when he becomes truly unpredictable.

Killing a sigh, Donnie continues to try and keep himself awake until the centrifuge is done. After that, he will write down the result and then he will be able to go to sleep for the night. Leo wasn't joking when he told him to go to sleep after all. They do need his brain to solve this, and his brain truly doesn't work as it should when it is as exhausted as it is right now. It works well enough, but it's nowhere close to its ordinary standards. _So tired…_ He feels how heavy his eyelids become the longer he waits, but it's not finished yet. _Letting out a yawn, he actually manages to make me yawn as well… wait, you don't need to know that… meh, I'm too tired to care right now… let's just continue the story._

Suddenly the centrifuge is done, and despite it taking a few seconds for Donnie to register it, he manages to make his way over to it to read out the result of the test. Analyzing what changes has happened to the samples he managed to gather when they were over at the location, he writes down every little detail he can see. Then, after he's done, he sets the samples back into the centrifuge and turns it off for the night. Yawning out loud, he stretches his arms into the air and then turns on his heel and heads out of the lab. The living room is empty which means that Leo somehow managed to get Mikey to go to bed after all – how long that took is still unknown to him, and to be honest he doesn't really want to know anything about it. Scratching the back of his head, he begins the short journey to his bedroom. Just as he's about to grab the door handle and open the path to where his bed is, a soft sound catches his attention. It's gone just as fast as it arrived and it leaves a confused and tired mutant turtle standing right outside his bedroom to think and wonder what the shell that was. After standing there for a while, the mutant turtle decides that it must've been a pipe that made some strange noise that you don't need to bother about. And so he opens the door and closes it behind him, walks up to his bed and doesn't even bother tucking himself in. He just lands face-first on his bed as his legs decides to stop doing their thing.

Raphael feel how sleep is still holding onto him, but the unfamiliar sounds that echo in his room are triggering the defense reflex in him. He tries his best to open his eyes and look around what the cause of the mysterious sounds could be. It takes a few moments for his brain and mind to wake up to the point where he eventually remembers just what the source of the sounds is. Closing his eyes and letting out a yawn, Raphael lets his head return to the soft pillow that it's missing ever so much. Feeling the peace in his mind again, he almost forgets that he's supposed to check up on the lump to see if it's still alive after the night. Up with his head again and leaning a little forward, Raphael finds the lump right next to him in his bed, sleeping. It's laying in some kind of gross puddle of green goo, and it also seems to have lost some "weight"? Now that he thinks about it, it has much more contours than it did before. It actually looks like a _mini turtle!_

The lump then begins to move a little and soon it opens up its eyes and looks up at the dark figure that's resting by its side. For being so small it sure seems to be okay with something so much bigger to be around it. Or maybe it just doesn't know anything about possible dangers yet? That could be it. Its big green eyes look around the big figure a little to observe the little world it's currently in, but then it returns to him.

He lets out a small sigh as he looks at it and sees the big green eyes looking back up at him. It survived the night, which means it's tougher that it seems, but given who its genes are coming from it isn't really that surprising. His head is getting heavier again so he decides to rest it on the pillow for a little longer. The others are still sleeping after all – they have to be given how silent it is on the other side of the door – so there's some time to rest up some more. He opens his eyes and looks at the little thing from his pillow. It kicks its little "legs" stumps up in the air a few times before it starts shaking its "arms" stumps a little as well. Maybe it's getting more moving ability the more of that green goo that gets out from it… well, obviously it does. It wasn't able to move around like that before. It's really beginning to kick and throw its arms around the place. So much that Raphael decides to place his left hand on its belly and carefully give it a little rub with his thumb to try and calm it down. He's not sure where he got that from, but he does have a faint memory that Splinter always did that to him whenever he would have trouble sleeping in that age.

It seems to be calming down a little as he rubs its belly, which is a good sign. That means it might go back to sleep, right? So that he can get up and get some breakfast, right? Oh, and he should get something for it to eat as well, shouldn't he? But what do babies eat…? Wait…? _"Babies"?!_ Since when did he decide that it would be a baby?! That it _is_ a baby?!

He carefully gets out from his bed, despite his head still screaming after the pillow, and thinks through his options as in what to do right now. Leave the lump in bed and get breakfast in peace and then bring something back for it and hope that it will eat it. Or, bring the lump into the kitchen and open up the door for everyone to find out what he's been up to… _yeah, the first option is still the best one, I have to say._ Scratching the back of his head, Raphael casts one last glance at the little lump. It's still, for the moment, silent and not moving as much as before, which means it might be asleep again. This could be his chance, so he better take it while it's still an offer.

If he didn't know any better, he would say that Leonardo is already up for some action. Well, might as well give him some feedback on the tests he did just before he went to bed – not that it was all that long ago. He's numb in his head as he leaves his bed, but despite being this tired, Donatello is a very stubborn turtle, and also very determined. If he wants to leave his bedroom despite being so tired that he can barely walk, then that's what he's going to do! He opens his bedroom door and lets himself out and heads towards the kitchen, where all the sounds are coming from. As he arrives he's far too tired and still has the blurry eye vision, so he both can't see which of his brothers are standing in front of him and doesn't have the energy to care on checking on who it is.

"Morning Leo…" He says, scrubbing the dust out of his eyes and keeps talking. "…I just wanted to tell you that I got the result from the centrifuge test… I don't exactly remember what it said but I wrote it down so I should be able to show you if you're interested in knowing…"

"Sounds interesting..." Raph says and watches as his brother yawns so that tears start to build up in his closed eyes. "…but maybe you should start checking your eyes first, eh?"

Donnie opens his eyes to have a look on his brother. Even with this blurry vision, he's still able to identify that red bandanna everywhere. Letting out a sigh and a yawn, Donnie closes his eyes again to rub them a little more before he decides to talk to his hotheaded brother about the results… that is, if he's interested in them.

"Oh…" He says. "…good one Raph… but now that we're talking about it; would you be interested to see the result? To see what damage you caused?"

"If you insist." Raph says. "Just remember to check who you're talking to next time you think you know, okay?"

"Sure."

"I mean, what if I would've been April-"

"I bet she would've been interested in knowing about this."

"-and you thought you were talking with one of us and told her about this next plan you have to make her l fall in love with you?"

"…" Donnie remains silent for a moment. "Touché…"

They head out from the kitchen and into Donnie's lab to see what the result of the centrifuge test was. Raphael might've been interrupted again, but at least he has the opportunity to get back to his little mission after this side mission. Donnie yawns loudly as he opens the doors to his lab and walks straight up to the centrifuge with Raphael right behind him. He opens it up and takes out the samples to look at them once more and then he reads the notes he took down before he went to bed. The result from the time they've been left like this and to the moment he just picked them up right now, given from what the notes say, then it can only mean one thing – and Donnie can proudly say that he was right – but there's still the part of finding out the "why".

Raph stands right next to his brother and watches as he observes the tiny testing tubes he got from the centrifuge and reads his own notes before he decides to think in silence for a while. He has completely forgotten that he's in here with him, hasn't he? Killing a sigh, Raph decides that it might be for the best if he got his brother back to bed before disaster happens and so that he can proceed with his own little mission before his disaster happens as well.

"Well?" He asks loudly, making Donnie jump a little, but not enough to make him drop anything. "What does it say?"

Rubbing the dust from his eyes one more time, Donnie turns towards his brother with his notes and one of the tubes in hand to show him what the result is. Raph stares at the things he has in hand, but has no idea what his brother is trying to tell him and it takes a few seconds for Donnie to realize that, and when he do he sighs.

"Long story short?" He asks.

"Yes please." Raph answers.

"Well then. I know what the Kraangs' experiment was about: they were trying to make exact copies out of us."

"What? Why?"

"That is what I'm trying to figure out. It would've been easier to understand if I had some information about what the Shredder is trying to do and why, but that would mean literally going to him and ask him about it…"

"That's probably not the greatest idea."

"Wow, even _you_ understand that."

" _HEY!_ "

"Anyway – the next best thing I can do is to search the Kraangs' database and see if I can find some sort of "communication" between them and the Shredder, but I haven't had the time to search the disks I managed to snatch from the lab they were using. Maybe there's something in them, if not, we might have to go back and search the place some more."

"Or pay Shredder a small visit and demand to know what kind of sickness he has this time."

"Not funny Raph."

" **Indeed.** "

The two brothers stop their conversation as they hear their sensei and father enter the lab and then walk up towards them with a very troubled facial expression. He surely doesn't seem happy about the situation, and since they don't know how long he's been there the chance is that he has heard everything they've been talking about. That could really have triggered something in his mind, the fact that the Shredder is trying to create his own versions of them, and the fact that they have no idea why – other than the obvious one that he wants to destroy something. The question is just: what? Is it them directly, them indirectly by making these copies do something horrible, or is he just after destruction no matter who it affects?

Splinter walks up to his sons and sees how they're both in need for some sleep. Whatever was in the Kraang lab they visited yesterday evening, it sure seems to take out a lot of energy from them. He really hopes that this isn't an effect of some strange device that the Shredder has constructed. Not that master Splinter is a scientist of any kind, but a father can worry over his sons, can he not? Especially given the situation they're in and the terrors they've faced before, there's no way for them to tell what this could be about. And the silence that arrives as he gets closer to them does not make him feel any better about this at all. Not at all.

"What can you tell from all this at the moment, Donatello?" Splinter asks.

"Well…" Donnie starts. "How much of our conversation did you hear sensei?"

"I heard that you think the Shredder might be trying to make his own versions of you. What do you think the reason could be?"

"Part from destroying us?" Raph asks. "Spread false rumors about us? Make people search for us? Capture us? Destroy us? Enslave us? Experiment on us?"

"Thank you Raphael, you have been most helpful in his matter." Donnie says irritated. "But as I was saying, sensei, I still won't be able to tell exactly what the Shredder is trying to accomplish – yet. I need more time, like a few days. Then I can tell, hopefully."

"I see." Splinter says. "I hope you will find the answer, my son. For whatever this could be about, we might not have as much time as we think."

"I know. I just don't want to rush through it all and risk missing the answer."

"Nor should you. It wouldn't be wise if you did. But you should also remember to take care of yourself in between." Splinter walks up to him and places his hand on Donnie's forehead. "I do believe you are still tired after this long night of experiments and testing that you have done. Why are you up so soon after?"

"I thought I heard Leo in the kitchen and wanted to tell him about the results I got, but it was just Raph."

"I see. Please return to your bed, my son. You need it."

"Alright sensei… (yawn) I'm going." Donnie says and leaves Splinter and Raph in the lab as he walks back to his bedroom and falls asleep in his bed.

Splinter follows his son with his gaze to make sure that he really leaves the lab and heads back to his bedroom to get the sleep he needs in order to fully function as normal. Once he's out of sight, meaning out of the lab, he kills a sigh and turns towards Raphael. He seems nervous about something – something he hasn't told anyone about, which means he's trying to hide it from them for some reason. It started when he returned home after heading out yesterday.

"Erm…" Raph tries to think of something to say after seeing how Splinter is looking at him with _that_ look on his face. "…is there something you want to talk about, sensei?"

"Yes." Splinter says as he tries to read his son the best he can. "How are you feeling, my son?"

"Me? I-I'm fine. Why?"

"You seem nervous about something."

"I do?" Raph chuckles nervously. "I didn't notice that myself."

Splinter looks at his son for a moment, reads him up and down and down up again. He's shaking, which means he's nervous, which means he's hiding something from him. Why is he hiding something from him, and what is it? What is he hiding from him and why?

"Is there something you want to tell me, Raphael?" He asks.

"Something I want to tell you?" Raph says. "No… not that I can think of… why?"

"My son." Splinter says, getting more and more tired about this game of his. "Do you not remember what happens if you try to hide the truth from others?"

"You mean the whole _"the truth will find a way out"_ kind of thing? Yeah, I remember." He says. "I just…"

Splinter raises and eyebrow. He didn't deny or confirm anything yet, but there's something going on, that's for sure, and it seems like he just now is starting to realize that he can't keep it a secret for much longer. But he also seems determined to give it a try. A feeling of defeat echo in Splinter's mind, but he shakes it off as soon as it shows. He knows that his son is struggling with something – what that is remains a mystery for now, but…

"You know you can tell me about it. Do you not?" He says and places a hand on his shoulder to show him that he has the support from his family still.

"I know…" Raph says. "I just… I just don't know what to do about it yet…"

"I see." Splinter says and pulls his beard. "Is it currently in your bedroom?"

"Yes." Raph says. "Wait! How did you…?"

"Is it waiting for you to bring it food?"

"I… I…" Raph is speechless. "How…? How did you…?"

"My son, I may be old and not very clever when it comes to technology. But I still have perfect hearing, and I did hear your conversation with Donatello about the Shredder wanting to make his own versions of you, and I know that you started acting strange after you returned home from destroying the lab the Kraang were using, and I know about the Kraang managing to take samples of your DNA when you were there."

"Okay, okay, okay! How did you know they took samples from me?"

"Leonardo informed me about the situation."

"Of course he did." Raph sighs.

"My son…" Splinter says and places his hand on his shoulder once more. "…I may not know exactly everything about this situation, but I know enough to realize that you are trying to do something very difficult, even when you have the opportunity to get help from your family."

Raph sighs and lowers his head. It should've been more obvious to him that he would find out about it no matter how hard he tried to hide it. He's their father after all, and also their teacher. He knows everything about them, more or less. As much as it pains Raph to know that Splinter knows about the situation he's in, he's kind of relieved in the same time to have someone to lean on and ask if he ever needs to know something – and that it's Splinter, their master.

"I am not trying to force you to make a decision that _I_ want you to make, my son." Splinter say after a moment of silence. "I just want you to know that you have the right to make it easier for yourself, it you want to."

"I know sensei… thank you."

"Well then, why not tell me what this something likes to eat?"

"Sensei?"

"Perhaps we could go and see what we have and create something you believe would suffice?"

"I… yeah… that sounds great."

"Very well." Splinter smiles. "Let's go then."

Raphael follows his father out from the lab and back to the kitchen to make something to eat for both him and the little lump that's waiting for him in his bedroom. It's been some time since the last time he hung out with their father, and he begins to remember how nice it is to do so. He's actually missed it without realizing it. They talk about what it might like and tries out different versions of food and tastes it. After telling Splinter what size the lump is they started to make sure that they made stuff that is easy to drink out from a bottle and such.

Soon the rest of the family wakes up like usual and they all prepare themselves for the training session they always run right before breakfast. Raph was a little late for the session, but Splinter didn't seem to bother with it, so Leonardo decided not to talk to him about it. Maybe he's not feeling as well as usual? Splinter does go easier on them when they are sick – and sometimes he forces them to rest if they're really sick and so. But when the training session is over, Raph doesn't wait around for breakfast, but heads directly to his bedroom and stays in there for at least half an hour before he comes out again to see what the rest of them are up to. That Leonardo talked to Splinter about, but Splinter only smiled and told him that there was no need for him to worry about their brother; that he had already talked to him about it.

"Well, if you say so father." Leonardo says and leaves his father in the dojo to do some meditation.

He walks past Mikey who has placed himself right by the TV with his breakfast in hand, and walks up to the lab door to see where their smart brother has gone. Sitting by his desk and already finished the small portion of breakfast he allowed himself to have, Donnie is back to the research to figure out why the Kraang were doing what they were doing for the Shredder.

Leonardo walks in to see what he has figured out so far, and Donnie tells him the information that he has already shared with Raphael and Splinter. They talk for a while and the more and more they talk, the more and more the puzzles in their jigsaw they find and the picture changes before their eyes as it does. The more pieces they manage to find and place the more details they begin to notice. Soon they will truly know what the Shredder is up to – hopefully. Like Splinter said; they need time to see what the picture is, and they need to make sure they don't worn themselves out in the process. They need to rest in order to make the true progress. They talk and talk about the possibilities, talk about which of them makes most sense and why the Shredder would do something like that. The more they talk, the more pieces to the jigsaw they find, the more pieces they manage to place. But the picture still remains incomplete.

* * *

I am actually not done with the current chapter in my book – I'm currently going through some minor hiatus when it comes to it, but I just figured out what the chapter will be about so I decided to give myself a little "reward"; to continue on little Raelle's adventures again. I do however have a three week long vacation at the beginning of next month, so I'm planning to write as much on my book as I can then, and on My Treasure if there's time. And bake. I like baking. Also, I forgot to delete Parenthood. I'm going to do that now. That makes me sad.

Also, I figured that Splinter would be the first one to "find out" about the whole thing, since he's their father and a ninja master, for crying out loud, but that he would show his son the respect and allow him to keep whatever is going on a secret for as long as he feels like it. Of course he's a little curious as to what it is exactly that Raph is hiding in his bedroom, but given the whole situation he kind of has an idea about it already and wants his son to know that he can get the help he needs if he just wants to. It's all up to Raphael to decide when the time is right to learn about it.

\- Freaking hiatus is going to be the end of me. I just know it.

 **TMNT 2012: Little soft baby sounds echo in my soul.**


	4. Chapter 4

**It's actually a rather funny story once you get it**

 _(Also: YES! FREAKING FINALLY DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER! Ok, carry on)_

Four days has passed and Donatello is hiding out in his lab. He has done some remarkable progress when it comes to figure out what sort of experiment the Kraang was doing, but he has yet to discover "why", but that is on its way as well. What he has been able to gather for the moment is this:

The Kraangs where ordered by the Shredder to make "evil replicas" of them – the turtles – like some kind of dark versions of them that were meant to serve the Shredder in his army of freaks and mutants. Now, in order to make these replicas, the Kraang of course needed to get their hands on the original turtles' DNA, which Raphael accidentally gave to them when he busted up that Kraang lab. Now, onto the subject with the strange goo that was still in the giant canister that was connected to the machine in the lab – it contained a large amount of Raphael's DNA, which would mean that they managed to begin the process of creating a replicated turtle… but as they all could see, there were no trace of a "creature" such as that anywhere in the lab… that could mean on out of two things: 1) the process was cut short – so short that whatever was being build up in the canister, simply fell apart again, or 2) the creature survived the process getting cut shortly, and somehow managed to move before they got there.

These two options… they seem plausible until you really think about them. The first option, that the creature fell apart before it actually came back to life, seemed like the best one at first. But then Donatello remembered that a process that's getting cut shortly has a massive effect on everything involved, meaning that there would've been a huge mess in that canister, a mess even greater than the one they found. There would be traces of tissue, calcium from the shell and skeleton, not to mention the amount of blood that wasn't there. That's what made him consider another option…

The second option; the creature somehow managed to survive the process getting cut short like that. It somehow managed to survive the massive effect of its creation getting interrupted, and then managed to move before they got there to investigate… but how in the world would something at that state be able to move at all?

Feeling the frustration flushing all over him, Donatello sits down on chair and leans back to the wall and let himself think for a moment. He thinks both options through, then he even tries to come up with a third one, but nothing makes any sense in the end, so he just gives up. Closing his eyes, he decides to give himself some peace and silence so that the thoughts can process in his mind while he's resting. Or at least, he would if he could. From the living room, Donnie can hear how April, Casey and Mikey are watching a show called "Paradise Murder" or something like that. When the sounds from the show won't let him think in peace, Donnie decides to go and see what the fuzz is all about.

"Hey D!" Casey says when he sees Donnie coming out from his lab. "Came to check out the show, eh?"

"Hi Casey." Donnie says completely not interested at all.

"Hey Donnie! Come and watch some of it. It's actually kind of funny." April says with a big smile.

"Funny?" Donnie asks as he's heading to sit next to April. "I thought it was about solving murders?"

"Well, yeah, but also really funny."

April smiles sweetly at him and then turns back to the TV to see what's about to happen. Donnie decides to go on and give it a chance. For all he knows his mind might need something else to think about for the moment so that he can truly focus on the Kraangs' experiment later on. Leaning back on the couch, Donnie watches the actually rather humorous characters doing their things to solve a murder that has happened on a boat that's turned out to be connected to some strange company in London. Killing a sigh, Donnie allows himself to watch the show with his friends and family.

He has gotten quite used to having the thing around by now. Sure, he's still new to this experience, but he's getting there. Master Splinter were kind enough to give him some blankets that he used to make some sort of a "crib" out of on the floor that it can sleep in without making him worried that it's going to fall out from the bed in the middle of the night. It's even resting in it right now, which gives him a little bit more space and such. He's just gone out to the kitchen and gathered three bananas, a glass of milk and a spoon that he's going to use to prepare some lunch for it.

As soon as he starts peeling one of the bananas, it suddenly begins to move around in its little crib. It has lost some more of that green goo and is now able to move around a bit more – if that's going to be for the better or the worst is still not determined. It forces itself up from its back and onto its front so that it can crawl around on four. The big green eyes are looking at him, observing him as he carefully uses the spoon to squeeze the banana into the glass of milk and mix it around so that it becomes more like a paste. As soon as he's done, he takes a small amount of it with the spoon and carefully begins to feed it. It manages to eat up it all yesterday, which means it's growing and that it's healthy, but today it seems satisfied with a little less than half of its portion. It still burps after the meal, which Splinter said is important to happen after a baby has fed, so that's good. He's still not pretty sure how that can be so important, but in the same time, he's not going to question master Splinter's advice when it comes to this.

But then, a few burps later, Raphael hears something he's never heard before – so to speak. _*cough*_ echoes in his room, and then a few more, some more intense than the first one. His eyes grow big as he hears the sounds coming from the small lump and they soon meet the very tired eyes from a very tired lump. But that's not tired from sleepiness, that's a different kind of tired…

"Are you getting sick?" Raph asks and puts himself in chock as he hears what he's saying.

The little lump is looking up at him and coughs one more time as if it's confirming what he's suspecting. This is not good! _Should've been expected though, since he literally brought a baby into the sewers of NYC and only God knows what kind of bugs lurks down there. Far more than a tiny turtle baby can handle when they haven't developed their immune system fully yet. Anywhoo…_

"This is bad… This is really bad…!"

Raph mutters to himself as he slowly begins to panic. Why didn't he think about this before? Why did he have to be a dumbdumd and only realize when it actually happened?! He should've known about this! Even he can get sick because of the germs that dwells down here! It's like… it's like something, _or someone_ , just forced him to forget about it so that this would happen… but that's a crazy thought. _Heh._

"What do I do? What do I do?" He keeps muttering to himself as the lump coughs some more.

But then just like that, just when the show that's playing on the TV reveals who the killer is… Raphael knows just who to turn to in this kind of situation – but that it also means letting him know about the lump… but in the end, it might be for the best.

The show reveals just who the killer was, why they did it and how they did it. It was… an eye-opener for a certain turtle with a purple bandanna, and just because of what the detectives talked about: If something seems too impossible to have happened, then it most likely never did. Standing up and walking away without saying a word to the others, Donatello hurries back to his lab. He stands there, by his desk, for at least half an hour without saying or doing anything. He merely stares into the oblivion and lets his mind play out a possible scenario after another possible scenario. It doesn't stop for the likes of him. It just keeps going, keeps going and keeps going on with playing out possible scenarios that could explain just what seems so impossible with this experiment. No, not what it's for – he's pretty sure what they were doing when it comes to that. The thing that seems impossible is what was hidden in the glass canister.

There were obvious traces of Raphael's DNA. There were obvious traces that something was alive in there before they managed to come and search the place. There were obvious traces of what the experiment was for once he managed to decode some of the broken discs from the lab. But – where did the creature that was created in that glass canister go? It didn't die – there were no traces of that. But nor were there any traces of it leaving… but it must have since it wasn't there and there were no remains of its body anywhere in the building… so where…?!

A knocking on the lab door knocks him out from the spiral of thoughts. He looks at it for a small moment before he remembers that he's supposed to open it and let whoever it is in – as long as it's not an enemy. He opens the door and finds his hotheaded brother standing right outside with a big nervous smile on his face while he's carrying something in his arms that he has very carefully wrapped in a blanket.

"Hey D! You got a minute?" He asks, obviously worried about something, but still tries to play cool.

A deep frown evolves in Donnie's face, but he lets his brother in nonetheless. He is curious about what this is and since Raphael obviously wants it to be a secret, then he's not going to make a big deal out of it. Once Raph sees that he's allowed in the lab he doesn't hesitate to enter it and walks straight past his tall brother to get to the most dark and hidden place of the lab as soon as possible. Donnie closes the door behind them and merely watches his brother's weird behavior. Seeing Raphael act like this… maybe he's out to get master Splinter in here as well? Or… maybe not… might be risking whatever this is. But if it seems like it's something to big for him to deal with, then he's getting master Splinter immediately.

"So…" Donnie says. "…what was it you wanted?"

Raph is just about to answer when a small cough echoes in the lab. Both Raph and Donnie freeze in their places as they heard it… and then it came again. Donnie looks with big eyes at his brother and then at the blanket he's holding in his arms. It takes a small amount of time for him to see that it's moving… and he looks back at his brother with a stare that demands answers before it asks its questions. Raph doesn't seem to be so eager when it comes to answers though… or at least, not when it comes to answer with words. Instead, he walks up to the table in the middle of the lab and places the blanket, and whatever is in it, onto it. With Donnie right in front of him, Raphael unwrap the blanket and leaves the lump completely uncovered for his brother who just stands there and stares with chock written all over him. Only when the lump starts coughing again does Donatello react again. He stares at the little turtle on the table and can clearly see that it's fighting a bug of some kind. That must be what made Raphael finally reveal this secret of his…

Raph stands aside while Donnie starts investigating what bacteria they're dealing with right here and how to treat it. There are a couple of "aha" moments before Donnie knows just what medicine to give the poor little thing. He mixes some weird stuff into some blender so that it becomes drinkable and then takes a syringe with one of those softer ends and fills it up with the mix. Syringe in hand, Donnie makes his way back to the turtle lump and seems a little lost as to what to do. Raph eventually steps in and picks the turtle up so that Donnie can pour some of the medicine into its mouth. It hesitates, but eventually gives in. Perhaps the medicine isn't as bad as Raph thought, or they need to check if it has some damaged sense of taste.

Once the syringe is emptied, Donnie puts it down and makes sure that it didn't spit anything out or accidentally inhaled some of it. When he's done checking for any kind of damage he stands up straight and stares at his brother with a very concerned look on his face. Raph doesn't say anything. He's pretty sure what he's about to say, so he's gonna let him say it without interrupting him or something like that.

"Does master Splinter know?"

Okay… that wasn't exactly what he thought would be the first question. Raph looks up at his brother, still holding the turtle in his arms and gently rocking back and forth as he's standing. Donnie observes his brother's behavior as he's holding the baby in his arms… or, if it really is a baby. He needs to run some tests to know for sure which aging state it's in. as far as he's concerned, this "age" might merely be temporarily.

"He knows…" Raph says. "…some of the story…"

"What?" Donnie says. "What does that even mean?"

"It means… he knows I'm keeping something secret… and that it has to be something like… this…"

Donnie looks at his brother. He's not sure what he's supposed to do about all of this, but…

"Wait here." He says and leaves his brother standing in the lab with the turtle in hand.

A few minutes later, Donatello returns to the lab and is followed by Splinter. Feeling the dread crawl on his back, Raph immediately turns his back and tries his best to hide the lump from his line of sight. Splinter watches his son's behavior and then looks at Donatello to get his suspicions confirmed. He takes a deep breath and walks slowly up to his son, but still makes sure to keep a "safe" distance to make sure that his son isn't going to turn and run for dear life.

"My son." He says with a calm voice but still feels how Raph tenses up by how close he's standing. "Donatello said you revealed your secret to him, and that it might be for the best if I knew your secret fully as well."

Raphael stands silent, holding the lump for dear life and praying that it's all going to work out well. A moment of silence is all he wants and that's what Splinter gives him. He gathers all of his thoughts and plans out how it's all gonna turn out, but in the end, he knows that it never ends up the way you plan it. Another deep breath, louder this time and more shaky… but then he turns around and lets him see the turtle he's holding in his arms. Splinter lets a small moment pass by without saying anything. But then he smiles, and a heavy weight falls off Raphael's shoulders as he sees it. Splinter takes a few steps closer to the little turtle and raises his hand to stroke its cheek. It seems happy with the attention it's getting, but then it begins to cough again.

"I see." Splinter says, realizing the reason why Raphael decided to reveal his secret to them. "It would seem like you have catched a cold, little one. Good thing Uncle Donatello is here to treat you."

" _U-Uncle?!_ " Donnie coughs himself. "Sensei! We can't even say that Raph is the "father" to… to it…"

"It?" Splinter asks.

"Yeah… well… we don't exactly know what gender it is sensei."

"Is that so?" Splinter says and looks back at the little turtle. "You still don't know?"

"Know what sensei?" Leonardo's voice suddenly echoes in the lab, freezing them all for a split second.

Donatello, Splinter and Raphael turn around to see the rest of the family/gang standing at the lab door looking at them. April and Leo are standing next to each other right in front of the door while Mikey and Casey are hiding in the background. A heavy silence flows in the air, but it dies as soon as the little turtle starts coughing again and everyone's attention is drawn towards it. April is the first to take one extra step to see what exactly it was.

" _Oh my gosh!_ " She gasps once she sees what Raphael is holding. " _OH MY GOSH!_ "

Raphael takes instinctively a couple of steps backwards as April walks up to have a better look at the little treasure he's holding away from everyone around him. Due to curiosity, Leo, Mikey and Casey follow after her to see what she saw, which only makes Raphael take even more steps back. He's about to reach the wall behind him when Splinter raises his arm to stops them all from rushing up to him all at once. He turns his head a little to see just when Raphael is ready to introduce them all to the new family member, the new member to the team.

A deep breath in, and a deep breath out… one more in… one more out… Raphael closes his eyes and breathes… then he opens his eyes and looks up at Splinter. He's ready. With a smile and a nod, Splinter turns towards the four very curious teenagers and makes sure they understand to take it easy with this one, and then he lets them through. He and Donatello stand aside and observes as they all meet the little turtle.

"Oh my gosh! She's beautiful!" April says but then looks up at Raph with a questioning look. "Is… is it a boy or a girl?"

"Um…" Raph says. "W-we don't know yet…"

" _Duuuuuuuuuude!_ " Mikey steps in and stares at the turtle in his arms. "This is _awesome!_ You've got your very own mini you!"

"A mini Raph?" Casey laughs loudly. "That's hilarious!"

The only one who is silent between the four teenagers is Leonardo. He stands still along with Mikey Casey and April, he looks at the turtle his brother is trying to protect from them all, and then he looks at Raphael. They get eye contact for a moment, a moment where Leo is silently asking if this is the creature that was in the glass canister that he damaged in the lab the other day. With a silent nod he answers Leo's question. He watches as Leo takes a few steps back and walks up to Donatello and Splinter to talk to them for a moment.

"Donnie?" Leo says. "What do you know about the Kraangs' experiment?"

"Part from that they were trying to make copies out of us and possibly give them to the Shredder so that he could terrorize the entire city and blame us for it… not much." Donnie says and shares the same concerned look with Leo. "I'll know more once I manage to run some tests on… it."

"How soon can you start?"

"As soon as it's rid of that cold it's got."

"That's all I wanted to know."

Splinter listens to the conversation his two sons are having and then returns to watching his family react to the tiny little turtle. No matter what gender it is, it has brought a lot of great happiness to them by being something of a "mistake". But, just like Leonardo and Donatello is worried about – this little turtle could very well be just as dangerous to them as it is innocent. No one asks to be made, and the fact that this little turtle was created by the Kraang by the order of the Shredder… who is to know truly what the intention was when they started the creating process for this little one? And what will its reaction be when the truth comes out?

* * *

First of all – I just want to say _Thank You_ for the support with this story. I understand that some of you are sad that Parenthood is gone – to be honest, so am I – but it just didn't feel right to keep it there when I know what some people think of it and the fact that it wasn't going to get any more chapters. Still, I'm glad to be back writing about Raelle. I'm not going to lie to you: it's hard to start a story all over and to do it so differently from how it was the first time you wrote it, and especially when the first version managed to reach 19,500+ views ( _lord knows how that happened_ ) and to be back to square one. I'm not saying that I'm only writing stories for the sake of "fame" or "recognition" _(please, for the love of God, don't read this story just because of pity!)_ but I do wish that this website, FanFiction, didn't show you those numbers, because they get stuck in my head so easily and it makes me constantly compare these two stories to each other, when they're actually the one and same story.

Anywhoo… I just wanted to say thank you! That's literally all I wanted to say after everything. _**Thank you! Thank you!**_ I'll do my best to keep the chapters coming regularly, but no promises about anything like that - _yet_. Hope you understand! See you in the next chapter!

\- Don't pity me. _I'm crazy!_

 **TMNT 2012: Storytelling was a lot more fun when I was a kid**

 **Next chapter:** When time is on my side.


	5. Chapter 5

**Barrier in my mind forces the darkness to stay**

" _Raelle… Ralando… Raelle… Ralando… Raelle…_ _Ralando…_ "

"Err… what are you doing?"

Mikey looks up from the piece of paper that's lays on the floor in front of him to have a quick look on the person that's trying to talk to him. Leonardo is standing next to him, watching him with a small wondering smile on his face. Obviously he's wondering what his little brother is doing on the floor, talking to himself with a piece of paper with several names on it that's been crossed out except for two.

"Donnie said he might be able to tell the gender of the experiment baby." He tells Leo. "I'm just trying to decide what name it's going to be."

"Oh..." Leo says and leans a little closer to see which names he's written up. "Any luck so far?"

"Nah… I'm down to two but… it would be easier if I knew if it is a boy or a girl."

"Understandable."

Leo leans closer and manages to make out the several names that has been written on the paper and then crossed out for whatever reason Mikey decided they weren't good enough anymore. Let's see… the girl names are: Savannah, Venus, Sasha, Miata, Evelyn, Heather, Linx, Elle and then Raelle. The boy names are: Gabriel, Sonyx, Shadow, Rolando, Ralando, Hinto and… _Jupiter?_ Leo looks at his brother after reading all of the names he's been thinking of and prepares himself to open his mouth and ask the question of where he got those names from… but then he remember that this is Mikey: no questions are needed. Except…

"Raelle and… Ralando?" He asks and sees the extreme smile his brother beams with pride. "Um… where did you get the idea for… _those_ names?"

"Well…" Mikey starts. "At first I just thought about "ordinary names", but then I remembered that the Kraang had only used Raph's DNA for the experiment."

"Okay… sooo…?"

"So the names must start with the letters RA, like a reference to Raphael… and thus, I've come up with these two names."

"Oh…"

Mikey beams and then returns to mumbling to himself which name it's going to be in the very end. At this point Leonardo decides to leave his brother to himself and heads back to the lab to see what Donnie is up to. As Leo opens the lab door he can see Raph standing by Donnie's desk and that the little turtle is laying on it as Donnie is walking around the lab talking to Raph and fixing with some machines. They haven't noticed him yet, so this leaves him some time to see what's going on. With the commotion that happened yesterday when they all found out, Raph was left with unfinished business and it seems like he's trying one more time with… whatever it was he was up to before Donnie blew the whistle on him.

"And this is for whenever it starts coughing again." Donnie says as he shows Raph a small vial with transparent liquid in it that might actually be medicine… wait… _It's sick?_ "Make sure to only give it two drops every time."

"What happens if I accidentally give more?" Raph asks, sounding a little more nerve wrecked than usual. "What if I-"

"Raph, calm down." Donnie stops Raph as he's talking and places both of his hands on his shoulders. "If you accidentally give it more than two drops, then very little is going to happen. The only thing that happens is that the risk for a little stomachache raises, that's all. It's not like I'm giving you poison to treat a cold with."

"It's sick?" Leo asks, stepping into the conversation.

The two brothers look up at him as he walks up to them to have a little look and see what they're up to. He walks up to the desk and places his hands on it before he leans a little closer to look at it. It takes a small moment before it actually spots him and when it does it looks at him with the same big green eyes that he knows from a certain hothead. But he's not going to nag about this on him. It's enough to merely look at him to make him surrender – and that never happens in normal situations. The only reason would be that he really is worried about what this is going to do with them all, what the consequences will be and all that. After all, it was created by the orders of the Shredder… nothing good can come out of that… can it?

Donnie looks at Leo as he's standing there and observing the small turtle. It seems like he's busy thinking about something, so he's not going to bother waking him up from his thoughts but rather allow him to wake himself up. And so, a few moments later, he does. A quick shake on the head and Leo is back in the world with them. He looks at Raph first, who still seems to be ashamed about all this and merely looks away without saying a word, and then he looks at Donnie.

"So… is it sick?" He asks one more time.

"Yes, but not deadly I might add." Donnie says and reaches out to open its mouth for a small moment. "As you can see, its throat is red and swollen…" He tries to show Leo, but it's pretty hard when it decides to fight him from putting his giant fingers in its mouth. "And it has a small fever, which shouldn't be a problem in itself, if it hadn't affected its appetite."

"It's starving?" Leo asks.

"No… well, not yet at least." Donnie says and leaves the turtle alone to turn around and bring some syringes with softer ends to them. "We can feed it with the help of these. All we have to do is make the food very easy to swallow and digest as well as making sure it's notorious and has a healthy amount of proteins."

He hands Leo one of the syringes as to allow him to feel the size of it and to figure out how it's working and how to use it without hurting its mouth during the feeding. It's very light, so much that he has a hard time feeling its weight at all. He spends a little while observing it and getting "familiar" with it before he looks back up to see how Donnie is preparing some of the medicine with another syringe. He fills it carefully – it's a little harder to do with the softer and wider "needle", but he manages – not all of it, but just a little that will allow them to give it two drops. The drops land straight down the mouth as Donnie holds it open with his free hand after putting the vial down. The small turtle does not seem to be happy about this. It makes a very disturbing face as it tastes the medicine they literally forced in its mouth and it starts coughing at it as if it's trying to get it out.

Donnie then looks at Raph with a confident smile as he says "And that's how you do it." Raph doesn't seem very confident however, but he nods regardless to what Donnie said. It's really strange once you think of it. This little turtle… they don't even know if it's a boy or a girl so they haven't been able to name it. It hasn't been here for a whole week even – it was created in a Kraang lab – and it's absolutely the biggest result of any of Raph's anger moments… and still, despite being worried about what this will do to them, Raph is also worried sick about this little turtle. It's almost honorable, if you weren't aware that Raph has a soft spot for tiny turtles – like Spike and (not yet but sometime in the future, Chompy). Knowing that, it's almost not surprising at all that he actually tried to hide this from them, and that he's as worried as he is now that they all know.

Leo looks at the little turtle and just "hears" what Raph and Donnie are talking about. Suddenly they're done talking and Raph reaches out to pick up the small turtle from the table. He turns around quick and begins marching out from the lab, hoping that no one will call him back there. As he walks out through the door Mikey pops his head up to see what's going on, and as soon as he sees Raph walking by with the small baby in his arms, his face lights up. Jumping up on his feet, he hurries up to his brother and yells out all of his questions, like he always do whenever he's excisted about something.

"Dude! How did it go? C'mon! Tell me! Is it a boy or a girl? C'mon, Raph! I have to know!"

Raph stops as he hears Mikey yelling all of his questions at him. He stares at his younger brother and hopes, for Mikey's sake, that he's about to end this show of his right now. But, as he would've known, he doesn't, because he's Mikey. Before he manages to do anything to his brother, Leo comes in between to calm Mikey down before another disaster happens. It is noteworthy that Raph didn't whack Mikey straight up the head yet. Maybe he really did listen to master Splinter this time about learning to control his temper and all that?

While Leo keeps Mikey busy and informs him that it might take a little longer to determine the gender, and therefore also the name, since the turtle… baby, is ill and needs to recover more than anything else. Mikey silently listens to his older brother and nods to what he's saying – really paying attention to what he's actually telling him and all that – which in itself is also very noteworthy. It's almost like this incident has begun to make them all realize just how important it is to be in control over them, even if they're really sad, angry, confused or just straight up happy and excited.

With the situation explained to him, Mikey calmly returns to his piece of paper to have one final glance on it before he picks it up and heads back to his bedroom to do some "meditating" over it. Leo watches him as he walks to his bedroom and simply smiles at the thought that there's a brand new member in their family. He turns around and walks to the dojo to see what master Splinter is doing. Naturally, he finds him sitting by the tree, meditating. He's just taken two steps into the dojo to see what he expected to see and therefore turns on his heel to walk out again and leave his father alone with his thoughts.

"Leonardo?" He hears Splinter calling behind him.

"Sensei?" Leo asks and walks back in again.

"I heard you come in and then how you changed your mind." Splinter says and opens his eyes to look at his son. "Is something bothering you?"

"Oh… er… no?" Leo says and scratches the back of his head. "Why do you ask?"

"You look troubled." Splinter says and pats the floor next to him as to signal his son to have a seat and let his thoughts out.

With a defeated sigh, Leo does as his father tells him and walks up to him to sit down next to him and tell him what's swimming around in his head. He sits down and closes his eyes for a moment, trying to determine just how he's going to phrase his words without hurting anyone – Raph in specific – and to make it possible to understand where he's going with it all.

"I just…" He starts. "…I-I don't know how to… respond to all of this, sensei." He takes a deep breath and tries to focus his thoughts. "I mean… I'm really happy that Raph is finally starting to take his anger issues seriously and tries to control him and all that, but… the "baby" turtle… I just don't know what to think of it all. It was created by the orders of the Shredder, sensei… how can we be sure that it's not going to end us one day?"

"I understand your worry, my son." Splinter says and places his hand on his shoulder. "That is a concern of mine as well. But we must be patient and wait until we know for certain. Until then, be vigilant. Not only when it comes to this young turtle, but with your enemies, the Foot, the Kraang and their allies."

"Hai sensei."

"Now, why don't we go and see how your brother is doing? I'm certain that he is much more worried about this than we are."

They stand up and walk out the dojo to go and see how the hothead of the family is doing. At his door, Leo is the one who knocks it and opens it, letting them in to see what he's up to. The room is dark when they enter it, but Leo is quick and turns on the ceiling lamp in pure reflex. Once the light gets on they can see how Raph is currently laying on his bed with the small turtle right by his side. He doesn't say anything to them, which makes them both very worried, but instead of going leader on his brother, Leo allows Splinter to be the one who talks to him first.

"How are you doing, my son?" Splinter says.

"I'm fine."

The conversation is cut short as the small turtle starts coughing again. Moving at the speed of light, Raph leaves his bed for a small moment to go and get the medicine Donnie gave him to help cure the little turtle's cold. He does as he's been instructed and drops two drops into the turtle's mouth and then places his finger over it to prevent it from spitting it out. Once it's swallowed, Raph is about to leave his bed once more to put the vial back where he kept it, but before he's able to actually get out of his bed, Leo reaches in and offers to take the vial for him. Raph looks at Leo for a second and then gives in and hands him the vial before getting back to the position he was in before they walked in. Holding the vial, Leo can't help but notice how worried and almost scared Raph looked when he stepped in to take it for him. Sensei was right – like he always is – Raphael is way more worried about all this than any of them are.

"You really seem to have got it now." Leo says, trying to sound encouraging. "I bet they will recover in no time."

Raph doesn't answer. He merely shrugs.

Leo looks at his brother. It is very unusual to see him like this – but that doesn't mean he hasn't acted like this before. For about two years ago, or so, Raph went all silent when he felt guilty that his fear of roaches stopped him from being able to help in a mission where Donnie's SpyRoach got mutated and ended up kidnapping Mikey. He felt so guilty over it all that he wasn't able to speak or act like normal, just like he's doing right now. Leo sighs and closes his eyes. He knows what he has to do and he's not going to be that guy who knows it but decides not to do it. Turning around and putting the vial down on the small table where Raph kept it earlier, Leo walks up to his brother and kneels down by his bed to come down to his level. He looks at his brother and tries to get eye contact, but then realize that it's not going to happen, so he proceeds anyway.

"Raph." He starts and tries again to focus his thoughts so that the meaning behind what he's about to say won't get clouded or anything like that. "I just… I just want you to know that none of this is your fault." There's a small reaction, but still no eye contact. "Everything that happened… none of it is your fault. When you raged and left, none of us tried to stop you. We all let you go and do whatever it is you do whenever you need to let out some steam." He pauses to see if there's any reaction to what he's saying. "It's not your fault, Raph, because, believe it or not; there's no way you could have known that the Kraang was working for the Shredder, that they were working on some experiment where they needed our DNA."

Raph remains silent. He can hear what Leo is saying, but there's like a barrier in his mind that's forcing everything he says out again. It force him to not accept whatever it is that Leo is saying to him as he tries hi best to encourage him. The small turtle is evidence enough to prove him wrong, whatever it is he's saying – that's all it allows him to think, that's all it allows him to hear.

"Do you know how I know it's not your fault?" Leo asks, noticing that there has to be something that blocks his words from entering his deepest mind. "If you had known about everything the Kraang were up to, what the result would be beforehand, you wouldn't have gone there, would you?"

There's a crack… a crack in the barrier. Raph directs his eyes and focuses them on his brother. Eye contact is made and preserved. Leo smiles.

"I take that as agreeing." Leo says, keeping the smile on his lips. "You wouldn't give the Kraang or the Shredder the chance to do what they want to do, would you? That's how I know you had no idea about any of this, and that's how I know it's not your fault – because I know you, I know you would never let something like that happen. You would most likely have gone somewhere else to let out your steam, right? Like… the Purple Dragons or something like that?"

He lifts his head from the bed, still looking at Leo and listening to what he's saying. The crack in the barrier is growing. He might just be able to break it.

"It's not your fault, Raph." Leo says. "No one think it is… not me, master Splinter, Mikey, Donnie, Casey or April. We all know that this isn't your fault. The only one who's blaming this on you is _**you**_."

The crack keeps on growing, but the barrier remains where it is. It's weaker than it was before, but still stands its grounds, proves its point in any way it can. Raph finds it easier to forgive him for letting all this happen, but he's still not fully convinced that this isn't his fault. He knows it has to be – he was there! He saw it all from first person perspective! There's no doubt about it… there's just no doubts about it… He sighs, closing his eyes once more and just pays attention to listen. Listen to what his brother and father have to say, listen to the small sounds that the small turtle is making. If he's to see it as a baby, as a turtle or as their demise, he has yet to learn.

Leo sees his brother shutting himself down again. There's no getting through to him, is there. He does his best to kill a sigh, although master Splinter noticed it and stepped closer to his son. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and giving him a reassuring nod and smile, Leo feels a little better about this. He just doesn't feel as good as he was hoping to – and nor is Raph. This only proves what he's been worried about since they all found out: this is the toughest test his hotheaded brother has ever faced. But hopefully, it will also be the toughest he will ever meet.

In the meantime; Mikey is standing outside the door and softly pressing his ear closer to hear what they're all saying. He was busy "meditating" over which name it will be for the baby when suddenly, he heard Splinter's and Leo's voices entering Raph's room and closing the door after them. Curiosity is his strongest treat, indeed, and so he snuck out from his own room and is now trying to understand what they're talking about in there – well, the baby of course, but what else other than the baby is what he's trying to determine.

He's so focused on listening that he doesn't notice April entering the lair. She's texting Casey as she walks in, so she doesn't notice the odd sight of Mikey kneeling down outside Raph's room while keeping his nonexistent right ear to the door. When she puts the T-Phone in her handbag though, she does. Frowning at the sight, she immediately feels like she has stepped into some unfamiliar territory. She slowly raises her hand and waves it back and forth to try and get contact with the youngest of the turtles. It takes some time though – Mikey does have a tendency to pay so much attention to whatever he's doing so that he doesn't notice anything else. But eventually he does. Seeing some weird movement in the edge of his eye, Mikey eventually turns his head April's way and sees the human girl that they all know and love.

She's about to call out "Hey! What's up?" when Mikey flies across the living room straight up to her with a big smile on his lips. He doesn't say anything to her as he grabs her hand and drags her off into Donnie's lab to see what goodies she brought. Once inside the lab, Mikey lets go of her hand and closes the door behind them. He then stands in front of her, holding his hands to his face while doing the very happy/excited eyes at her and playfully skipping back and forth.

"Hello Mikey!" She says when she feels how it's safe to talk. "Nice to see you to."

"Huh…?" He says, stopping what he's doing and looking at her with confusion written all over his face, until… "Oh! Yeah, sorry about that. Master Splinter and Leo are talking to Raph in his room so I had to act quickly before they came out again and saw you."

"Ah! That explains it." She smiles and pulls up the big shopping bags she got in her hands. "Wanna see what I found?"

"YEEES!" Mikey smiles and returns to the extreme happy eyes.

They walk to one of the free corners of the lab so that they can do what they're doing and leave Donnie to do what he's doing. Being as busy with the research and everything like that, he hasn't even notice he's not alone in his lab yet. They sit down on the floor with their backs against Donnie to hide what they're doing and April places the bags in front of them. Mikey reaches out to the bag closest to him and is just about to pick it up when April grabs his hand.

"Wait!" She says and leans closer to him. "What about Donnie?" She whispers in his ear and points back at Donnie who's still very busy in the backgrounds.

"It's cool. Watch." He says and turns halfway towards his brother. "Hey D! You got a minute?" He calls out to Donnie, but he's much too distracted to hear him. "See?" Mikey says turning back towards April.

"Oh." She says. "Well, in that case."

They turn back to the bags and start their small secret project. Donnie works in his direction, and they work in theirs. Sometime later, they're done. Packing everything nicely together, they prepare to get out of the lab without anyone noticing. Mikey goes first, making sure the coast is clear and everything. He opens the door and peeks out to see if Splinter and Leo have left Raph's room yet. Seems like they haven't – coast is clear. Signaling to April, they're both ready for this! They have to make it to Mikey's bedroom before Splinter and Leo leaves Raph's – then, and only then, can they go back to acting normal.

Holding the door open with his right hand, Mikey is holding five different packages with his left hand – since he's the ninja he suggested that he would take more to make it even between them. To his big surprise, April agreed on that thought. Once April is right behind him and ready to keep the door open as soon as he lets go – he goes.

April watches as he aims for the shortest way, observes his movements to understand which the best ones to use in this scenario is. Once he's out of her sight – once he's passed the corner to where the bedrooms are – he reaches out his free hand and signals thumbs up. It's her turn. Glancing back at Donnie to make sure he really doesn't notice, she lets go of the door and dashes through the living room like Mikey did. With no one to hold the door open, it slowly closes and leaves Donnie all alone in the lab, like he thought he was the entire time. As the door closes, the very familiar sound echo through his lab and reaches into his deep thoughts. He drops his tools, turns around and looks at the door with a big question mark for a face. _His mind is literally going: wut?_

Safe in Mikey's bedroom – _yes I know what that sounds like_ – April exhales the deep breath she held in during the sprint. Mikey is beaming with joy over the fact that they not just planned this, but that they're actually managing to pull it off. April smiles at him, and they give each other the bro-fist with a big smile each. Then they start placing the packages in different locations in his room to make sure they're not that easy to find and therefore the surprise will remain a secret.

"All set here!" April says when she's hidden the last of her packages.

"Likewise here!" Mikey smiles and jumps on his bed a few times before jumping down to show her to the door.

They sneak out from his bedroom, silently hurry to the television and turn it on with low volume so that no one will notice the sudden sounds echo in the lair. Eventually master Splinter and Leo walks out from Raph's room and heads out to the living room where they are waiting for everyone. Donnie manages to decide on taking a break once he hears that Splinter and Leo are out in the living room.

The only one who is still missing is Raph, but that's not hard to understand.

While everyone else is out in the living room – Splinter is back in the dojo to continue his meditating – April and Mikey is giving each other another bro-fist to "celebrate" their secret victory. A buzz from her handbag catches her attention and April searches it for her T-Phone. She checks the text she just got from Casey and smiles at it.

"Hey guys!" She calls out. "Casey sends his greetings."

"Is he alright?" Donnie asks. "I just noticed he's not here."

"Oh, he's fine." April says. "He just had to help out with keeping an eye on his sister whilst their dad went somewhere."

The conversation keeps going, and soon everyone is sitting on the couch looking at the TV screen. Sitting next to each other, Mikey and April gives each other a nod and then focuses on enjoying their time with their friends and family. Leo however is having some hard time to actually enjoy. Occasionally glancing over to his brother's room, he feels a brand new worry grow inside him… a brand new darkness that he has never faced before. He closes his eyes and tries not to think about it too much, but it's hard. He just wants everyone in his family to be happy and ok. Why is that always so hard to do?

* * *

 _I suddenly felt a very strong need to understand what Raphael is going through, since it's not the same in this story as it was in Parenthood. This time, Raelle wasn't just the result of the Kraang doing their experiments ordered by the Shredder; she's also the result of Raphael's anger outbursts. It really began to dawn on me that Raphael in this story would feel a lot more about this Raelle – not only love, but worry, worry for what will happen to his family – she is a weapon that the Shredder ordered to be made in order to destroy them, after all. Thinking about it this way, I suddenly began to understand where Raph was coming from – how he is torn in his mind. He wants to make sure he made the right choice when he decided to save the small and weak turtle from the Kraang, but he's more than certain that he has literally doomed his family by bringing the Shredder's new favorite weapon home. Just the thought of what he's doing to himself in his mind, how he tortures himself over every single little mistake that happens – like Raelle getting a cold – and forces him to believe that it's his entire fault._

 _Whatever could Mikey and April be up to, I wonder?_

\- Depression is a scary thing, especially when it comes in many different versions. But there's one thing every depression has in common: it makes you hate yourself on a whole new level.

 **TMNT 2012: My deepest darkest thoughts… who can conquer them and live?**

 **Next Chapter:** When Time Is On My Side


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi! Long time no see! Sorry for the_ _ **extreme**_ _lack of chapters and progress to the story. I'm going through some sort of hiatus right now and I'm doing my best to break it, but it's not as easy as I would've wanted it to be. A lot of stuff has happened in life, but the two main reasons as to why I've been gone for this long is this: I've finally moved to my own place, and then – at the same time – I had to change to a new job… I'm trying to make things work out as much as I can, but I'm actually working so much I barely have time to eat when I get home – Monday to Friday, so when the weekend come, I'm basically more dead than alive – unless I have to work then as well. Needless to say, I'm searching for a different job with less working hours, and hopefully I'll find something soon. Pray for me! xD_

 _Anyway, I just had time to read my previous chapters before I started on this one, and man I typed wrong everywhere! Sorry! Hope this chapter is worth the long wait – I mean, it definitely isn't, but one can hope, right? With that being said: Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Maybe it's our first mistake?**

The Kraang finally accepted the line, and the big screen fills up the throne room, allowing him to see who he is talking to. Kraang Prime is standing still, ready to talk to him about the disaster they mentioned to him not to long ago. The Shredder sits silent in his throne, waiting to see what his first choice of words will be. Karai stands next to his throne, waiting for anything to happen – literally anything at all. A couple of minutes pass without any of them saying anything. She grows bored of waiting very fast and groans loudly whilst rolling her eyes at the scenario.

"Is anyone going to say anything?" She asks out loud and stares Kraang Prime in the eyes. "Seriously, _you_ were the ones who contacted us first about some disaster that happened in one of your labs, and then you literally went hiding from us. What's the deal?"

"I am not talking to you, tiny female human." Kraang Prime says.

"Then talk to me." Shredder says. "Karai is correct in what she's saying. Why are you hiding from us?"

"We're not hiding! We're just… working."

"On what exactly?" The Shredder is not amused with how obvious it is that Kraang Prime is lying to him. "It has become too obvious to me that you are no longer working on my project I ordered you about. Why?"

"Take a chill-pill, why don'tcha?" _I suddenly felt a very strong need to hear a Kraang say that line. I don't know why. But I still feel satisfied about it. Anywhoo…_ "So what if we're not working on that stupid project right now? Even if we wanted to we couldn't. There was only one lab with the equipment necessarily that made all of this incredibly stupid human idea even possible to begin with, and that's the one who got destroyed by the turtles! We need to literally rebuild that lab before we can go back to working on the project. That's what we've been trying to tell you!"

"As in; hide from us and hope we'll never find you to punish you for not make the place safe?" Karai says sarcastically. "Yeah, that sure sounds like a great plan."

"Why you little-!"

"Enough!" The Shredder raises his voice and stands up from his throne. Everyone watches as he walks up to the screen and stares the Kraang Prime in the eyes. "You mentioned the turtles." He says. "That they're the ones who ruined the lab and destroyed the project."

" _For now_ , yes." Krang Prime sighs. "And actually, it was only one of the turtles."

" _Seriously?!_ " Karai shouts out. "Your high-tech, super special lab with super rare tools and equipment was destroyed by _a_ turtle? _Singular?_ "

"Which one of the turtles was it?" Shredder asks.

"The hotheaded one. You know? The one with the red bandanna." Kraang Prime says. "And I would appreciate it if that female human would just shut up already!"

"HEY YOU-!" Karai shouts.

"Karai." Shredder says as he raises his hand to stop his daughter from attacking the screen. "Don't let the enemy control you in any way."

Karai takes a small step back and looks at her father. She can see the seriousness in his eyes and lets out a sigh as she crosses her arms.

"Yes, father." She says.

"OOOOHH!" Kraang Prime says. "So _we're_ the enemy now?"

"Yes, you are." Shredder says and looks back at Kraang Prime. "However, you have the technique I need in order to destroy an arch nemesis. So until Hamato Yoshi has been destroyed, you will work for me as a temporary ally. But know that we are in no means "friends"."

"Thank god for that!" Kraang Prime says.

And with that, the conversation with the Kraang is over. They have finally delivered the message they've been "trying" to deliver since the "accident" happened. Karai watches as the screen closes down and they're left in the throne room to themselves. It's just for the best anyway. One more minute and she would've killed someone. Seriously – the nerve those aliens have! And they don't even have a full body to carry themselves with – they literally had to build machines to do it for them. Sheesh. Rolling her eyes at their "allies", Karai turns towards her father and sees his calm and collected eyes as he has returned to his throne.

"How can you stay so calm after talking to an idiot like that?" She asks, genuinely curious.

"Years of training." He answers. "If you cannot learn how to control your mind, you will never learn how to control your body. It is a vital lesson every warrior must master before they can be allowed in war."

She looks at him for a couple of seconds, thinking about what he just said. Then a smirk comes on her face.

"You're killing them in your mind, aren't you?"

Shredder looks at her, sees her smirk and simply turns back to stare at the empty space in front of him as he remains as silent as he possibly can. But Karai is not a foolish child – he made sure to train that sort of trait out of her… and to be stubborn. He taught her to be stubborn. He just had no idea how stubborn she would become from that training.

"Maybe." He says and can hear how she snickers at him.

* * *

"C'mon Donnie!" Mikey complains on the other side of the door. "Tell us already!"

The gang is standing right outside the big door that keeps Donnie's lab safe from… well… everyone, and waits for Donnie to come out from there with the baby turtle in his hands as he tells them if it's a boy or a girl. April and Mikey are standing right next to each other, prepping themselves for the small surprise they've been cooking up together. They brought it and hid it before Leo gathered them all to wait where they are right now. They'll have to try to sneak away from the rest of them if they're gonna be able to pull this off. Luckily, April managed to sneak the cakes in the fridge without anyone noticing, so that part of the plan is successfully completed.

"Hey Donnie!" Raph calls out once he's gotten bored at waiting. "Are you even in there or are you pranking us?"

"Patience my friends." Donnie calls out from behind the door. "I'm almost done back here."

"Yeah, you better be." Raph mumbles.

"I heard that!" Donnie calls out once more and can hear how Raph growls at him for doing so.

There's a big smile on his face as he looks at the little turtle on the table before him. He's done his best to make it obvious to any of them, but you can never be certain if *cough* Mikey *cough* will be able to tell no matter how obvious you try to make it. But nevertheless – let's see where we are at the moment: Pink ribbon around the neck with a big pink rosette behind the head, and… (…) … yep, that's it. He has no idea what else to add to the equation, so he'll just go with that. Besides, it's not like they have easy access to baby stuff like that, so they'll just have to settle with what they can get their hands on. Just be glad that the ribbon he found was actually a clean pink ribbon, and not a filthy and destroyed or a different color even – _totally not fixed by the author, what are you talking about?_

The big green eyes follow his every move and Donnie can only imagine that she's trying to understand what he's up to this time around. He smiles as he looks at her, and he carefully puts the ribbon around her neck and ties the rosette at the back of her head.

"There we go!" He says with a big smile and picks her up from the table. "Are you ready?"

He tickles her belly a little and smiles at her soft giggle, then he heads towards the door to announce the big surprise to them all – Raph especially, since it's kind of his child even if he doesn't fully understand it or admit it. Taking a deep breath and turning around so that his back is towards the door, he tries to think of the best way to present the little turtle for them, but after a while he just decides to exit normally. He tries his best to hide the ribbon for them though, to make sure he really can say that he tried his best to make it as much of a surprise for them all. Opening the door just a little, he decides to call out to them before walking through.

"May I have your attention please?" He calls, making Raph roll his eyes whilst the others are listening with keen ears. " **The time is nigh!** " He says, pulling off a very dramatic voice. " **But first you must all turn around** … so that… I can get out of here without blowing the surprise for you."

" **Smooth**." Casey snorts with his own dramatic voice.

"Just turn around." Donnie sighs.

And turn around they do. April and Mikey are eying one another, prepping themselves for getting ready for the surprise. Leo is watching Raph and Casey to make sure they're not about to do something stupid. Raph is impatiently doing what his brother tells him and turns around, hoping that it will somehow make it all go faster.

Leaning out of the doorway to check if everyone really is turned around, Donnie carefully exits his lab and tries his best to hold a firm but gentle grip of the small turtle that will not only hide the pink ribbon, but also allow her to breathe. _That… sounded weird… to make it clear: He's NOT strangling her!_ He then takes a deep breath and turns around himself – since that seems like the best solution to his problem. Once turned around he pulls on the same dramatic voice again, which actually seems to be a good way to distract or entertain the little turtle. She keeps looking up at him as he talks that way, always about to giggle at it.

" **And now!** " Donnie says, making sure that she won't giggle at his funny voice. " **Turn around and I shall tell you… a secret!** "

"Is the secret that you're actually a really huge dork?" Raph asks sarcastically. "Cuz' I'm pretty sure we already know about that one."

"Harr. Harr." Donnie says. "Just turn back around."

Said and done. The gang turns back around only to find Donnie standing at the door with his back turned towards them. Feeling a slight irritation spreading through his body, Raph is just as ready to punch his brother in the face as he could ever be. The only thing holding him back from doing that is the fact that Donnie is holding the little turtle in his arms. If he attacks Donnie, then there's a great chance that Donnie will drop it, despite him being a ninja and all that. Being a ninja doesn't mean you can never accidentally drop something or someone – especially when you're being attacked by someone who's a lot – **A LOT** – stronger than you. So, yeah, he's not going to do that.

Just as Donnie is about to turn around to face the gang and tell them the gender of the small one, April gently grabs Mikey's hand and tabs it twice with her finger – the signal they agreed on when the time was right to go and get the surprise. With a light twist of his hand, Mikey signals back that he's got the message and that he's ready once she gives him the order. Then, Donnie turns around and holds the little turtle before them, showing them the pink ribbon around her neck as he holds her out in the air – like they do in Lion King – and kneels down to make it all so much more dramatic. And then, with all his might, he puts on the funniest dramatic voice he could possibly pull off, hoping that this time around, she really will giggle and/or laugh for them – cuz' she's really cute when she does that, so he really wants her to do that so that everyone can go "aawwww". _Oh wait! That's what I want!_

" **Congratulations Raph!** " Donnie prays that his voice won't break by doing this. " _ **It's a girl!**_ "

And just like he _(me)_ had hoped, the little turtle bursts into laughter after hearing the hilarious voice her uncle just pulled off, and she laughs for a long time after. As the gang goes "aawww", April manages to bring herself back to reality and taps Mikey's hand once this time around, giving him the signal to get the right cake now that they know the gender. Feeling the signal, he gives her the eye and dashes away from the gang while she makes sure to draw enough attention towards her that no one will notice that he took off. She pushes herself forward in the small crowd, forcing everyone to notice her presence as they all lean closer to look at the little turtle girl giggling in her uncle's hands. After holding her like the baboon in the Lion King movie (Rafiki) holds Simba, Donnie stands up straight and holds her closer to his plastron to make sure she gets the support that she needs. Seeing everyone's reaction towards knowing the gender of the small one, it brings a kind of joy he didn't expect, but that he probably should have predicted.

Seeing everyone's reaction towards knowing that the little turtle is a little girl… knowing that the little turtle is really a little girl… just… the fact that the little turtle has a gender at all… Raph looks at the little turtle in his tall brother's arms. He doesn't recognize the feeling that's spreading throughout his body… What is this? He… he remembers how Donnie talked to him not to long ago how the little turtle was created from his DNA, and whatever the Kraang used to make it possible for it to happen, and that Mikey then stormed in to them shouting that since it's made out of his DNA, it basically means that it's his child. Shaking his head at the thought of being a father to something like this… just the thought of being a father – no, he shakes his head. He truly doesn't fully understand why he decided to bring the little turtle home with him that day. All he knew was that he didn't like the idea of leaving something so small and defenseless behind and let the Kraang or Shredder find it to take care of it… but he doesn't like the idea of living under the same roof as one of the Kraang/Shredder experiments that's supposed to have been created to destroy them all.

Knowing all this… thinking about all this… he's just… torn. He's torn. He is torn. There's… no, he's just torn.

Watching from a distance, Splinter has been observing the way Donnie decided to reveal to them all the gender of the small turtle – the newest member of their family. He saw how April and Mikey gave each other signals – presumably to prepare each other for a surprise they've been planning – and then how Mikey dashed away from the group after April gave him the final signal and how she immediately began distracting the others to make sure they don't notice that Mikey has left.

There was a small awkward moment when Mikey noticed how Splinter was standing in the background and saw him leave the group like that. They stood still for a few seconds before Mikey smiled at him with a big grin and kept on dashing out to the kitchen where he's still currently at. Letting out a soft chuckle at his youngest son, Splinter can't help but feel warm at how well his sons and their friends are handling the situation. Babies are known to be very trying for families – he experienced that himself once he and Tang Shen had Miwa. It is one of the greatest things that tempt and try your patience with both the situation and your spouse (or family members overall). So, it is very calming and reassuring to see how well the teenagers are reacting to the little one so far. It will be very helpful for when the trying moments come – because they will come. It is never a question of **if** they will come, but a question of **when** they will come. But seeing the smiles on their faces, he has a hard time imagining them giving up on the small one just because of some trying situation. Though… after seeing the look on Raphael's face.

A small feeling of concern about his son starts to grow inside him. Raphael has to be the hardest and yet easiest to read out of his sons. You never truly know what he's thinking or feeling – except for the moments when he makes it all too easy to read his mind. As for the expression that's on his face right now… Splinter hopes that this is one of those times where you think it's going to be really easy to tell what he's thinking about, and then it turns out that you were so wrong in so many ways. Just for this moment, just for this one time, he really hopes that he's wrong. However… thinking about how Raphael first handled and dealt with the little turtle to begin with – how he hid her in his room, refusing to let anyone know about her until he absolutely had no other choice but to do so… just what is he feeling, what is he thinking right now that the little turtle is an official family member? That concerned look on his face… that very deep frown on his forehead. Splinter is worried that this might be the look of… of… regret.

Killing a worried sigh, Splinter doesn't have time to think about this anymore as Mikey dashes out from the kitchen and back out to the others, trying his best not to be seen by anyone but April – and Splinter of course, since he's a freaking ninja master. April soon notices him in the background and stealthily leaves the group to go and join him prepare for the surprise. They stand aside from the group for a while, and Splinter feels how they might be standing for a little too long. He inspects the group and chooses the right time to walk up to them before they start to notice how both Mikey and April aren't there anymore.

"So..." He says with a smile as he walks up to them. "…it's a little girl then?"

"That's right sensei." Leo says with a smile. "The first female turtle in the family."

"Bout' time." Casey says. "It would've been kind of predictable if it turned out to be another boy."

"I'm pretty sure it's sort of predictable either way." Leo answers.

"It is good to know nevertheless." Donnie starts talking. "It gives us opportunity to prepare ourselves for future events and to understand what might happen during her development as she grows up, so that we can support her in the right way."

"You mean like, when puberty hits?" Casey asks and laughs. "Yeah. It might be a good idea to prepare for when that starts."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo asks, genuinely curious.

"Let's just say that girls do not behave the same way that boys do, especially not when puberty hits." Casey says and thinks about his sister back home. "Trust me, I know."

Leo just stares at him, trying his best to understand what he means by any of that. But there's just no way for either of them to truly understand what he's talking about, since none of them are girls, and so, they've never experienced what may or will happen when a girl hits puberty. Especially when a girl turtle hits puberty – heck, they didn't even know what would happen when _they_ hit puberty. They didn't even know what puberty was until master Splinter remembered that he needed to talk to them about… _that._

 _Anywhoo… I wonder when April and Mikey will be done with preparing for the surprise…?_

"Okay!" April says loudly to get everyone's attention.

 _Oh! They're ready!_

"Ahem!" She clears her throat once everyone is looking at her as she stands right next to Mikey – like, shoulders are touching. "So, Raph." She smiles at the hotheaded turtle and tries to read his face as she talks to him. "We all know that you must've been under a lot of stress because of… all this. And, though we may not know just _how_ stressed up you must've been, we still want you to know that we're standing behind you – that we're here for you. So, me and Mikey…" She glances at Mikey for a split second before she looks back at Raph. "…went out and planned a little surprise party for you." They move away from each other and reveals the cake they've hid behind their backs and all of the decorations they've put up to make the living room a little more party stylish. "To show you that we really do care about you, that we want to help you through this and to celebrate the fact that we can now give her a name."

Raph stares at them as they hold up the pink cake with all the decorations on it and with the phrase "It's a girl!" written on it. He knows that he's supposed to react to it, that he's supposed to feel something strong over this… but he's not. Freaking out inside over his lack of emotions, he pulls on a smile and pretends for the rest of the evening. He acts so well that no one notices that it is really just an act… well, except for master Splinter.

He watches his son from a small distance as he's participating in the surprise party that Mikey and April planned out for Raphael's sake. Leo and Donnie are cheering on as Casey is pulling off some sort of street dance moves on the "dance floor" while Mikey and April are talking to Raphael as April is holding the little turtle girl in her arms. They all seem so happy. So why can't he be happy? Why is it that he always has to be… unhappy? Raph looks at the little turtle girl in April's arms. She smiles at Mikey as he does some goofy faces at her and laughs with great joy as he plays with some of his old toys for her. He observes his friend and brother interact with the little turtle… thinking about just how different it all would've been if he hadn't brought her to their lair to begin with. Just how normal would their lives be if he hadn't? How normal would his life have been if he hadn't?

Raph looks away for a moment and notice how Splinter is looking at him with a very concerned expression on his face. There's a small moment where they're just looking at each other without doing anything or saying anything. Raph eventually decides to be the one who kills the moment and looks away from his sensei. He tries to focus his gaze to the little turtle girl again, but he can still sense Splinter's eyes weighing on his shoulders. Trying his best to ignore the fact that his father and sensei is looking at him and observing his every one movement, Raph desperately tries to join in on the conversation Mikey and April are having. As Mikey notice that Raph is trying to join in on their conversation, he smiles greatly at his older brother and flings his arms around him and pulls him into a great hug. Raphael immediately regrets this decision.

"DUDE!" Mikey beams as his arms are still around his brother's neck. "You have no idea what great names I have come up with for her!" He pulls Raph's head a little closer so that he can whisper into his ear. "Of course, I'll let you choose between them."

Raph forces himself out of Mikey's incredibly strong grip and folds his arms across his plastron like he always do whenever he's just the slightest ticked. He then takes a deep breath and looks at his younger brother with the most obvious of the fakest of smiles. April even giggle's at it when she sees how much he really doesn't mean to smile.

"Mikey?" Raph says.

"Yeah?" Mikey beams.

"There's no way I'm going to let you name her anything at all."

"Aww! Come on!" Mikey whines. "I worked really hard on them! Like, really, REALLY, hard on them!"

"That's exactly what I was afraid of."

"Oh, come on!" Mikey keeps on whining. "Can't you even just look at them?"

"Urgh…" Raph groans loudly, but since he knows from experience that Mikey is not one to give up – especially not when it comes to him naming something – he decides to give in… a little. "Fine." He says. "I'll look at them."

"YAY!" Mikey beams and hugs his brother before rushing away to get the piece of paper he's written them on.

"But it's only to make you shut up about them." Raph tells him once he's back and takes the piece of paper from him. "Okay?"

"Absolutely!" Mikey says and waits impatiently for him to look at the names.

Rolling his eyes at his little brother, Raph holds up the paper for himself and looks at the names Mikey has come up with so far. Let's see… we have: Ramona, Raelle, Rachel, Raphaela, Rabecca, Ralice, Ralisa, Rakima and Rakimberlia. And… that's it. Looking at these… _"names"_ , Raph doesn't really know what to think of them. He looks at Mikey, who seems to be over the top proud of them, and simply shakes his head.

"Yeah." He says. "This is exactly what I was afraid of."

"What?" Mikey says. "What's wrong with them?"

"Part from the fact that they're not even real names and therefore utterly ridiculous? Nothing. No wait! You came up with them."

 _I honestly and truly spend far too much time coming up with those silly names than I should have. Thaaaaat's me in a nutshell._

"Oh, come on, Raph!" Mikey whines even more. "You don't like any of them? Why?"

"I already told you: you came up with them." Raph says and smells the paper. "They have your weird sent all over them!"

Seeing his little brother whine and complain about this the way he does, Raphael can't help but feel a little "satisfied" and "entertained" at this moment… until he sees the look on April's face. She has folded her hands in front of her just like he has, and she's giving him a stare that could kill someone if she really wanted to. He looks at her and sees the seriousness in her eyes. She is beyond pissed and disappointed in him. It's… actually quite terrifying, come to think of it. Especially after learning she has those powers of hers…

Scratching the back of his head, Raph tries his best to think of something to say that will make her stop looking at him like that. He ends up with nothing. Giving her an awkward smile does nothing either. As he realizes that he's defeated, he sighs and looks back at the list of names. Does he really have to choose one out of these… things?

"Erm…" Thinking about what sounds less stupid, he tries to choose one of the above (literally since you're reading it). "Okay… Rakima kind of sounds cool. But, why did you make them all start with RA?"

"Huh?" Mikey looks at him with surprise and confusion mixed onto his face, like it's supposed to be obvious or something. "It's because she's your daughter, duh! Her name has to be similar to yours."

"Okay…?" Raph says. "…But why?"

"It's like a reference! To you!" Mikey smiles. "Since she was made out of your DNA and all that."

"Right… obviously." Raph rolls his eyes at his brother's logic and returns looking at the list of names. "So… yeah, I kind of like how Rakima sounds. Although, _Raphaela_ isn't bad either… nah, I'm going with Rakima."

"Really…?" Mikey asks.

He sounds… surprised, but not in the "good" way. It's not like he's happily surprised that Raph actually thinks about going with one of the names he's come up with, but rather like he's disappointedly surprised that he went with _that_ one.

"Yeah." Raph says. "It sounds cool. Like me!"

"…sure…" Mikey says. "But… uhm… what about Raelle?"

"What about it?"

"Doesn't that sound… better?"

"No." Raph folds his arms across his plastron again. "And didn't you just say that _I'm_ to choose which one to go with?"

"Oh… yeah…" Mikey sounds a little hesitant, as if he's unsure what to say. "But… uhm… Raelle is like… a really, _really_ good name to, right?"

"Why don't you just say that you want her to be called Raelle?"

"OKAY! I really – REALLY – want her to be named Raelle!" Mikey finally snaps and falls on his knees, posing dramatically for April and Raph.

They look at him for a small moment, wondering why he's so dramatic about this. Then Raph grows tired of just standing there, watching Mikey act like… well, Mikey – and he kneels down to look his brother in the eyes.

"Why do you want her to be called Raelle?" He asks, tired of playing this game of his.

"Because-!" Mikey starts, but hesitates… "It's… a double reference…?"

"A double reference?" April asks, now genuinely curious about this. "Of what?"

"Of Raph and… and… the name Belle!" Mikey says with a big smile.

They just look at him for another short moment. There's something Mikey is hiding from them – why else would he had such hard time to think of the "other" reference to the name?

"Why is the name Belle so important?" April asks – she's now officially just as confused about this as Raph is.

"Because…" Mikey thinks about this very carefully before he manages to find a reason. "…it's a reference to the _Beauty and the Beast_ movie!" He smiles greatly at them.

"And that's important, why?" Raph sighs as he leans his head in his hand whilst resting the arm on his thigh.

"Don't you remember what they said in the beginning of the movie? Belle means Beauty!" Mikey says. "And that's why it's so important to me that you give her that name! Because then, it won't just be a reference to you, but it will also be a reference to the most beautiful name in the world! Belle!"

He giggles nervously as he gave them his reasoning. They just look at him for another moment, thinking about what he just said. April seems to like the idea he's presented to them, but Raph is obviously still skeptical to his brother's reasoning and motive. He leans a little closer and whispers to Mikey.

" _We've never seen the Beauty and the Beast movie._ " He whispers. " _So, how come you know what they say about the name Belle in it?_ "

Mikey giggle's very nervously and scratches the back of his head. He tries to come up with a very good lie – like, a really, _really_ good lie – that will make his hotheaded brother drop the subject and hopefully go with the idea of naming her Raelle instead of Rakima.

"I've… err…" He tries to speak. "…seen some bits of it on… YouTube…?"

Raph looks at him for a moment, not moving a single muscle as he thinks about what his brother just said. If what he's saying is true, then why did he ask _"Don't you remember…?"_ when he explained his reasoning? What is he up to exactly? Keeping this in mind, Raph stands up and thinks about the name in itself and the reasoning that Mikey has presented them with. He looks over at April who seems to be convinced, which just makes this ever so slightly harder. Sighing as he knows he's defeated once again, he raises his hands and makes it clear to them that he gives in.

"Okay." He says, defeated as he is. "Let's call her Raelle."

"YAY!" Mikey jumps up and hugs his brother.

"HEY! GET OFF ME!" Raph growls and tries to force his brother off of him.

April giggles at the sight of the two brother's interacting with each other. She looks at them for a moment before she looks down at the little baby turtle girl in her arms. A smile grows big on her lips as the little girl looks back up on her and smiles. She kicks with her little legs and throws her arms around as she giggles happily. A warm feeling spreads through April's body and she holds her closer to her chest, closer to her heart.

"Hello, Raelle." She smiles as she pulls her in for a hug. "Our little beautiful ninja princess!"

Raelle makes some happy and cute baby noises that catch everyone's attention. They all come up to April to look at the happy little turtle and April informs them all about her new name. A smile grows onto each and everyone's face as she tells them her name, and they take turns in tickling her cheeks, feet and chin. She giggles loudly at them all and kicks with her legs so much that it eventually becomes hard for April to hold her. She tries her best to control the little turtle, but she's just so excited that it's nearly impossible, and so she asks for help.

"Here, I'll take her." Leo says as he offers to hold Raelle for a moment.

April accepts the offer and holds out the small baby turtle so that he can get a good grip and hold her the right way so that she gets the right support for her head and back. Raelle seems a little surprised and unsure what to think about the new face that's looking down on her, but it soon passes as Donnie starts talking with that funny voice of his again. Soon she's laughing like she did before when he presented her to them all, and she starts kicking just as before – only this time, Leo's the one holding her, and since he's stronger than April and has larger arms and hands than her, it's easier for him to hold her even if she kicks like that.

Raph takes a moment – after Mikey let go of him – to stand back and look at his family interact with the small turtle thing. He can't get the feeling out of his system, the feeling that something bad is going to happen to them just because he brought that thing… Raelle, with him from the Kraanglab… but in the same time, he knows that something bad would definitely have happened if he had left her there for them and the Shredder to find. He knows that. He's just still unsure about this scenario that's presented before him. Everyone is happy – but for how long? When will the twist in the story come? How big will it be? Is there even one?

He doesn't know.

What he does know is that Mikey suddenly decides to tell everyone that he needs to go to the toilet and that he will be right back. They all watch as he starts running away from them, but only for a small while. They soon go back to looking at Raelle and interacting with her like before. Casey eventually decides to grab Raph and drag him to the group and interact with her as well.

In the meantime, Mikey is closing the bathroom door behind him and locks it to make sure that no one will be entering by accident. The room is cold like it always is. Donnie keeps telling them that he's going to fix it someday, but with all the missions they need to go on from now and then, he's just hasn't managed to get to it just yet.

 _Anyway… you okay buddy?_

"Yeah." Mikey says. "I managed to convince Raph to go with the name Raelle!"

 _Yeah! I noticed! Good job Mikey!_

"Thanks! It was kind of hard though… why did you make me talk about the Beauty and the Beast movie? We've never seen that."

 _Sorry! I didn't know what else to reference to! I just remembered that the name Belle means Beauty thanks to that movie – if that part is even true at all… and I also don't even know if the name Raelle is based off the name Belle at all. It just fit so perfectly I went with it._

"That sounds fair."

 _Also, I really didn't know that you've never seen the Beauty and the Beast movie. I just assumed, so, sorry about that._

"Really? I thought it would've been pretty obvious that we don't know so much about the stuff from the surface, since, you know, we've been living in the sewers for our entire lives."

 _Yeah, yeah! You're in a nickelodeon tvshow! How am I to know what you're up doing between each episode? Besides – you're also in my fanfiction story, so I should actually be able to make up stuff that's noncanon and make it work nonetheless._

"True."

 _Mikey stands still for a while and scratches his chin as he's thinking about something that just showed up in his mind just now._

"Say… how come you can't make everything you write canon in your own story?"

Mikey looks out into the empty space as he talks to himself in the bathroom, forgetting the fact that he's only wasting time as he keeps on talking with me. The others will soon react to how long he's taking…

"Are you making things canon…? Is everything I say and do just something you come up with for the sake of your story?"

A soft knock on the door echoes in the bathroom, but it's still enough to make Mikey jump. _He's a little on edge after talking to me – which isn't really surprising at all. Just imagine if you were in his situation. How would you react if the author of the story you're in suddenly made it possible for you to communicate with them, just because they thought it would be a fun thing to do?_

"Mikey?" April's voice hums from the other side of the door. "Is everything okay? You've been in there for… quite a while now."

"S-sorry!" Mikey answers. "Be out in a jiffy!"

He turns around and looks back into the empty space. It seems like he's about to say something, but he stops himself. Turning around and walking towards the door, he exits the bathroom and joins the others as they've started feasting on the cakes they brought. April tells him that she had to tell them that they brought two cakes with them, since they were wondering how they managed to know the gender before Donnie even revealed it to them.

* * *

And that sums it up for this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Don't forget to tell me what you think about it – feedback is helping me develop as an author, so don't be shy to give me some tips!

Anywhoo… See you soon – hopefully!

\- I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy working with you as my partner.

 **TMNT 2012: Breaking the fourth wall! Because its fun and I enjoy doing it so much!**

 **Next chapter:** When time is on my side…


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